The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Austin Boulevard will feature unusual 'continuous flow' intersection design

Lanes and lights mean traffic making left turns will not have to stop

How the continuous flow intersection will work at Austin Boulevard.

Ty Greenlees/The Ohio Department of Transportation hosted a ground breaking for the $48-million Austin Boulevard project at I-75 on Monday, April 20. Over 100 local politicians and civic leaders from Miamisburg, Miami Twp., Springboro, the State of Ohio and the U.S. Congress who collaborated on on the interchange attended. The removal of the old bridge over I-75 has already begun.

Man, 68, drowns at Caesar Creek Lake
5/26/12
Water rescues prompt warning from health officials
5/25/12
Beach Waterpark sued for failure to deliver
5/25/12
Raleigh Trammell’s defense opens in felony trial
5/25/12
UD to move satellite campus to Dublin
5/25/12
> More headlines

By James Cummings, Staff Writer Updated 4:08 PM Monday, April 20, 2009

On Austin Boulevard, construction will begin soon of a radically different intersection design that will be the first of its kind in Ohio, and one of the first in the country, according to local transportation planning officials.

The four-way continuous flow intersection at the junction of Ohio 741 and Austin Boulevard (formerly Austin Pike and Miamisburg-Springboro Pike) is being made possible by $6 million in federal stimulus money, the biggest single stimulus expenditure for transportation projects in the Miami Valley.

“A continuous flow intersection is capable of moving more traffic more efficiently than a normal intersection,” said Sherry Wampler-Ley, a project manager for the Ohio Department of Transportation, District 7. “But it’s going to take some getting used to.”

Construction already has begun on a new interchange of Interstate 75 at Austin Boulevard, but the official ground-breaking for the project is to be held Monday, April 20, Wampler-Ley said. Local officials hope that construction of the new interchange sparks development in the area, and the new intersection at Austin and Ohio 741 will help handle increased traffic volume in the area, she said.

Some work on the innovative intersection will begin soon, but Wampler-Ley said the new traffic pattern at the junction won’t go into effect fully until after summer of 2010 when the construction will be completed.

The main innovation included in the continuous flow intersection design is a set of left-turn lanes that cut across oncoming traffic a few hundred feet before the intersection. Signals are timed so that left-turning traffic typically doesn’t have to stop at the intersection and is able to merge smoothly with other vehicles after the turn.

“This type of intersection is just starting to be seen in this country, but they’re becoming popular elsewhere in situations where there’s a lot of traffic and congestion,” Wampler-Ley said. “You see a lot of them in Mexico, especially around Mexico City.”

The original plan for improving the intersection called for continuous flow lanes on the east-west legs only to handle traffic turning from Austin Boulevard onto Ohio 741. The stimulus grant will allow continuous flow lanes on all four legs of the intersection.

Wampler-Ley said engineers are currently finalizing detailed plans for the intersection improvement. The final cost of the project has yet to be determined, she said.

A second continuous flow intersection is in the planning stages and eventually be built at the Ohio 125 and Five Mile Road in Hamilton County southeast of Cincinnati. A spokeswoman for ODOT District 8 said the intersection is currently being designed, and a construction date has not been set.

When the Austin Boulevard continuous flow intersection begins operating next year, it will be totally new to most motorists who pass through it, Wampler-Ley said.

“There may be a little confusion when people see it for the first time,” Wampler-Ley said. “But after the first couple times through, people are going to love it. It does make things go a lot more smoothly.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2395 or jcummings@DaytonDailyNews.com.

How a continuous flow intersection works

The main difference between a continuous flow intersection and a more traditional intersection is the way left turns are handled.

The following is a description of how motorists traveling north on Ohio 741 will turn left onto westbound Austin Boulevard. All four legs of the intersection will operate in the same way.

Motorists wishing to turn left from northbound Ohio 741 will enter one of two left-turn lanes about 600 yards before reaching Austin Boulevard.

As the cars in the left-turn lanes reach the southbound lanes of Ohio 741, they’ll come to a traffic signal and may have to stop for southbound traffic.

At some point a traffic signal will stop the southbound traffic on Ohio 741 allowing motorists in the left turn lanes to advance toward Austin Boulevard. There will be a second traffic signal where the left-turning traffic reaches Austin Boulevard, but the signals are timed so that in most cases motorists turning left won’t have to stop again.

As motorists finish the turn, they’ll merge with motorists traveling west on Austin Boulevard.

Share this article