Chester Road Area One of State's Worst for Crashes

A three-year study (2008-2010) of intersections by the Ohio Department of Transportation listed 121 accidents near the Chester Road/SR 611 intersection, making it one of the worst stretches of road in the state.

The collisions were taken into account when ODOT recommended moving Chester Road several hundred feet west to align with the new Recreation Lane, which winds around the French Creek YMCA and All Pro Freight Stadium.

Last week, Avon-Avon Lake Patch published an article that , with the city of Avon paying about 10 percent of that, and the remainder coming from state grants.

Earlier this year, Avon began reviewing information from the Ohio Department of Transportation, including accident statistics that indicated the Chester Road/611 area was one of the top in the state for accidents. At the time it was ranked 13th; it has since moved up to the ninth worst intersection.

“That’s four places higher than the year before,” City Engineer Rob Knopf said last week.

Christine S. Myers, the Public Information Officer for the Ohio Department of Transportation -District 3, said that the area became a concern after ODOT reviewed the number of accidents (see accompanying PDF).

Myers said that state funding is available since Chester Road is within ODOT’s limited access right of way, where Recreation Lane is not. Also taken into consideration is the fact that Chester would be moving away from the I-90 interchange.

“It we move Recreation Lane, how the highway is situated, we would have to break limited access right of way,” Myers said. “We would be moving Recreation Lane closer to the interchange.  We don’t want a roadway closer to the interchange.”

The detailed breakdown of accidents note a host of factors, including the time of day, road conditions at the time of the accidents, which direction vehicles were traveling, which direction they were coming from, and if there was driver error. More than 80 percent of accidents occurred when there were no weather conditions.

Knopf said the project is still in preliminary stages and if the city receives funding and the project moves forward, the road's relocation, which would include two left-turn lanes and one combination straight and right turn lane, could be complete by the end of 2014.

“Chester (realigned) would have two left-turn lanes and one combination straight and right-turn lane,” Knopf said.

The project is still in preliminary stages.