Indiana State Police troopers plan to continue increasing patrols along a 14-mile construction zone on I-65 south of Columbus where the number of deaths and injuries are increasing due to accidents.

From March 2018, when the project started, until Sept. 15, there have been roughly 7,778 accidents, resulting in 1,421 injured motorists and 29 traffic fatalities on I-65 between the U.S. Highway 50 exit and the State Road 58 exit, according to data from the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute.

The institute tracks traffic accidents in Indiana based on police accident reports.

Over the same time period, responding police officers indicated in their reports that construction or a traffic back-up caused by construction was occurring during 1,052 of those accidents, which resulted in 240 injuries and four fatalities. Investigators only specified the construction zone was a factor in four of the fatalities.

However, police are not required to specify on the accident report if construction or a construction-related traffic back-up was present at the time of the accident, said Robert Duckworth, director of traffic safety at the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute.

Natalie Garrett, Indiana Department of Transportation spokeswoman, said INDOT is “concerned” about the accidents and that safety is the department’s “top priority.”

“INDOT is always concerned about accidents or crashes that occur on our state roadways, especially in construction zones,” Garrett said. “Safety is a top priority and we will continue to work with law enforcement to have some additional patrols.”

Garrett said the patrols could help with monitoring for erratic or unsafe driving, speed restriction and ensure that semi-trucks are traveling in the left lane through the construction zone. A number of semis that have not followed the signage to be in the left lane have overturned in the construction zone, blocking lanes of traffic for hours.

The average daily traffic along that stretch of I-65 is approximately 30,700 vehicles, with about 15,400 traveling northbound and 15,300 traveling southbound, Garrett said.

The three-year, $143 million project will make I-65 three lanes in each direction between U.S. Highway 50 and State Road 58 and resurface the roadway between State Road 58 to the exit at State Road 46 in Columbus, according to a statement by INDOT.

The project is scheduled to be completed in 2020, said Scott Manning, INDOT spokesman.

The layout of the construction zone has raised questions over safety, especially after traffic accidents involving multiple fatalities in February and September.

On Feb. 14, three people were killed when five vehicles collided in the southbound lanes of the construction zone. Investigators said a tractor trailer ran into the back of a recreational vehicle, causing a chain-reaction accident, according to state police. Some of the vehicles involved in the accident caught fire.

Those killed in the wreck, reported shortly after 10 a.m. near the 54-mile-marker just south of the Jonesville exit, were Glenn E. Cardelli, 57, and his wife, Kathryn L. Cardelli, 57, both of Minocqua, Wisconsin, and John W. Mumma, 67, of Philo, Illinois.

Police said the accident included a recreational vehicle driven by Cardelli and semitrailers driven by Roger E. Woody, 46, of Mooresboro, North Carolina, and Anatoliy M. Petrov, 43, of Park Ridge, Illinois.

On Sept. 15, a fiery crash on I-65 involving vehicles leaving the far northbound side of the construction zone claimed one life.

Witnesses reported that the driver of a 2008 Pontiac G6, Kayze Danielle Gilstrap, 25, of Bedford, was backing up, traveling south in the left northbound lane of Interstate 65 toward a crossover, when the Pontiac was struck by a 2019 Honda Pilot, which was traveling north in the left lane of the interstate, causing the Pontiac to become engulfed in fire, said Lt. Matt Harris, spokesman for the Columbus Police Department.

The driver of the Honda Pilot, Vanessa Rosborough, 31, of Indianapolis was transported to Columbus Regional Hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. Rosborough’s passenger, Emily McNiff, 28, of Fishers, Indiana was transported by LifeLine medical helicopter to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis for treatment.

Columbus police accident reconstructionists continue to investigate the accident, Harris said, and no information about why the vehicle was backing up on the interstate has been released. Indiana State Police and CPD do not consider the Sept. 15 accident as occurring in the construction zone.

Sgt. Stephen Wheeles, public information officer for the Indiana State Police, said state police have been increasing the number of patrols in the area since construction started, with some officers putting in overtime.

“We’ve stepped up patrols from day one,” he said. “We’ve had people designated out there every day. We know it’s a stretch where we’ve had accidents.”

Wheeles said the traffic lanes in the construction zone have not been reduced in size, but “it gives you the feeling that it is closer or more narrow because you don’t have the extra room for error that you would have if there was a wide shoulder.”

Wheeles said one issue he is aware of is semi-trucks that are traveling in the right lane getting their tires off the road, especially because of the reduced shoulder.

“If they get their right-side tires off the road at all, it will suck their vehicle completely off the road, and we’ve seen that with some of the accidents,” Wheeles said.

“People have to pay extra attention around them because there is no room for error (in the construction zone),” Wheeles added.

 

Source: http://www.therepublic.com/2019/09/22/toll_rising_in_i65_construction_south_of_columbus/

The Republic
Andy East
09/21/2019