OHIO — Gov. Mike DeWine announced Monday that $61 million in funding will go toward 27 new traffic safety projects throughout the state.

The funds are from the Ohio Department of Transportation's Highway Safety Improvement Program, DeWine said. Of the new traffic projects, 17 of them include installing roundabouts.

DeWine said data shows roundabouts reduce crashes by 48%. That number jumps to 80% in terms of preventing serious injury or deadly crashes compared to an intersection with light signals. 

The roundabouts have been designed to accommodate large trucks as well as farm equipment, and they'll include what's called a "truck apron" in the middle of the roundabout to allow large vehicles to ride up over a curb when going through. 

"Safe roadways are essential to connecting people and businesses across Ohio,” said DeWine. “With the investments made in these projects, we will help save countless lives on Ohio’s roads.”

Safety measures also include a "road diet," meaning roadway reconfigurations. This means officials seek to "reallocate the cross-section of an existing roadway to better serve all modes of travel, including walking, biking and driving."

“Our top mission is to ensure that our roadways are built to be as safe as possible. The measures we’re implementing with this program further that mission not only on roadways that ODOT maintains, but those maintained by local partners too,” said ODOT Director Jack Marchbanks.

DeWine said the projects were selected by a committee of ODOT staff, which have a background in safety analysis, traffic operations and highway management.