$1.9M improvement project means detours on Route 62 in Brookfield

Drivers can expect detours as construction gets underway Monday as part of a $1.9 million safety improvement project along Route 62 in Brookfield Township.

Beginning Monday, May 8, Bedford Rd. at US 62 will be closed through early August to build a restricted crossing U-turn (RCUT) on the U.S. 62 at Bedford Rd. intersection.

When the RCUT is done, drivers from the side streets will only be able to make a right turn onto Route 62. If they need to go in the opposite direction they will have to get into a left turn lane and make a u turn. 

“This is all set up to simplify the decision making process for the motorists,” Ray Marsch, ODOT district 4 public information officer said. “They’re only focused on one direction of traffic.” 

Some residents that live on Bedford Road think the new design is “stupid.” Those that oppose the design don’t want to have to make a right turn, drive farther in the wrong direction to THEN make a left turn. A petition against the project had nearly 1,200 signatures but it couldn’t stop the project. 

Others that live in Masury feel changing the intersection is a good thing. 

“If this can save a life, hey lets do it,” Thomas Anthony Sanata said. 

While the projects are undergoing the left turn lane at Bedford and Broadway Avenue will remain shut down. 

The detour for Bedford Rd. northbound is Broadway Ave. to SR 82 to US 62.

The detour for Bedford Rd. southbound is Stewart Sharon Rd. to State Route 7, to Chestnut Ridge Rd. to US 62.

ODOT will also install a right in/right out at the Broadway Ave. intersection.

The purpose of the project is to improve safety along the roadway segment of U.S. 62, especially at the intersections of U.S. 62 with Bedford Road and U.S. 62 with Broadway Avenue.

From 2014 to 2018, there were 16 crashes at the intersection of Bedford Road and U.S. 62. Of those, one crash in 2018 resulted in a fatality, ten were injury crashes, and five were property damage-only crashes.

“Sometimes those cars, you don't see them and you get ready to go then you see them and you gotta stop,”  Thomas Anthony Sanata, who frequently drives on Bedford Road, said. “So there is a dangerous situation here.”

Over the same five-year period at the intersection of Broadway Avenue and U.S. 62, there were 13 total crashes, including four injury crashes and nine property damage-only crashes.

An additional ten crashes (one injury crash and nine property damage-only crashes) occurred along this segment of U.S. 62, but not at either intersection. 

Following a fatal accident at the U.S. 62 and Bedford Road intersection in 2018, ODOT conducted a safety study for the area.

Completed in February 2020, the study identified crash trends, developed and examined potential countermeasures, and evaluated those countermeasures using Highway Safety Manual methodology and cost-benefit analyses. 

ODOT expects to complete the project in late October 2023.

  ODOT