Main Street Needs A Road Diet!

A woman lost her life after speeding on Dayton, Ohio's road.

The city of Dayton, Ohio is facing a crisis within it streets. How can it slow down motorists?

A 47-year old woman was the latest victim of a fatal car accident on North Main Street (Ohio State Route 48). The road is the dividing line between east and west Dayton. The road is heavily traveled. It's very notorious for speeding, prostitution and abandoned buildings.

Francine Heard was traveling southbound on Main Street. The woman was traveling over 60 mph on a road with the speed limit at 35 mph. Somehow she lost control of her vehicle and she ended up crashing into a trolley pole. She was thrown out.

Her body ended up landing on another person's vehicle. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The woman as well as 50 people in the past two months caused accidents on North Main Street. The notorious stretch of road extends for five miles from the Great Miami River until you reach the intersections of Main Street at Turner/Shoup Mill Road.

The victim lives in Dayton, Ohio and had family in Greenville, South Carolina.

That is the most dangerous part of the road. 

The Dayton Police, Montgomery County Sheriff's Department and Ohio State Patrol were concerned about Main Street for years. They often patrol that area for speeding and other violations on the road. They also have shot spotters and prostitution stings over in that area.

New mayor Jeff Mims will be tasked with bring Main Street back to the community.

There's been talk about a "road diet" on Main Street, West Third Street, Salem Avenue and Wayne Avenue and South Smithville Road, the most busiest roads in the city. 

A road diet is reducing multiple lanes to limited lanes, add bicycle lanes, raised curbs, flashing signs for pedestrians, removing traffic signals at low traffic intersections, making bus lanes, added center turn lanes and reducing speed at certain roads and intersections. 

Main Street could become the first in a series of road diets. It has worked in Columbus, Ohio.

If Dayton does finally get federal and state approval, they could enact this in 2022. They already have funds to remove nuisance properties, demolish unsafe structures, add more white street lights, make RTA pay for removal of abandoned trolley poles and lines. 

They could line up trees, make parking spots on Main Street. Try to encourage businesses to invest in Northwest Dayton's neighborhoods. Eliminate food deserts. Make the community rise from the years of depression.

The most population Dayton, Ohio had at one time was in the 1960s when it was 223,000 residents. It has seen a decline to the current population of 138,000 residents. How can the Rust Belt bounce back?

The only city in the Rust Belt that doing reasonably well is Columbus. With a population over 1 million, Ohio's state capitol has been the Midwest hub for innovation. Cincinnati will eventually become the second largest city in the state.

Will Dayton be the next boom of business and travel safety?