A detour begins Monday as the Ohio Department of Transportation works on a $1.9 million safety improvement project along Route 62 in Brookfield Township.

Beginning Monday, May 22, Bedford Rd. at U.S. 62 is closed through late August.

The detour for Bedford Rd. southbound is Stewart Sharon Rd. to SR 7 to Chestnut Ridge Rd. to US 62. The detour for Bedford Rd. northbound is Broadway Ave. to SR 82 to US 62.

ODOT is building 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.

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.

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.