The closure may cause some traffic issues in the morning for motorists using Washington Church Road to get to Ohio 741, according to Major John DiPietro.
The widening is a $5.5 million project, according to Montgomery County Engineer Joseph Litvin.
Motorists are encouraged to use alternative routes such as Spring Valley Pike or Lytle-Five Points Road to Yankee Street in Springboro, Adams said.
The Austin Interchange project will allow motorists traveling east or west on Austin Boulevard to face a set of left-turn lanes that cross over oncoming traffic a few hundred feet before the intersection at Ohio 741. 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.
“It makes it a much more efficient intersection,” Robert Hoag, engineering director for the Montgomery County Transportation Improvement District, told the Dayton Daily News last month. He added that traffic lights will be equipped with battery back-ups. If power failed and traffic signals went out, the complexity of the intersection would require a police officer to direct traffic. Miami Twp. police and paramedics are being trained to respond to accidents or emergencies due to changes in the area.
The intersection is the first of its type, Litvin said.
Staff Writer Joanne Huist Smith contributed to this report.
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