OHIO — As AAA estimates that 2.2 million Ohioans will travel this weekend for the Thanksgiving holiday, the Ohio Department of Transportation said it is taking steps to make holiday travel easier for drivers.
Matt Bruning, a spokesperson for ODOT, said that road crews are in the process of removing as many orange barrels as possible to make things smoother for motorists. Bruning said, however, some orange barrels will remain in place.
“Unfortunately we can’t do it everywhere,” he said. “Some of those work zones will be ongoing and you could see some traffic delays and issues in those areas.”
Bruning said the following areas are subject to slow downs due to construction.
- Interstate 75 in the Toledo, Dayton and Cincinnati areas
- Interstate 70 in Springfield
- Interstate 70/71 split in Columbus
- Interstate 70 in Zanesville
- Interstates 76/77 in Akron
“We just ask people to pay extra attention in those work zones, because you could see narrower lanes, lane shifts, you could have people drive through the state of Ohio who aren’t used to work zone setups,” Bruning said.
Lt. Nathan Dennis, a spokesperson with the Ohio State Highway Patrol, said the day before Thanksgiving is generally one of the worst days of the year for impared driving.
“It seems like as family and friends get together for Thanksgiving, they want to partake in festivities that involve alcohol,” Dennis said.
Dennis recommends that before people go out for a drink, they have a plan for how they’ll get home.
Bruning said he expects Wednesday afternoon and Sunday to be when Ohio roads will be the busiest this week.
AAA officials expect that this Thanksgiving weekend will have the fourth-highest travel volume in state history and will be a 13 percent increase from a year ago.