Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
The Ohio Department of Transportation has announced just over $97 million worth of projects that will improve safety on roadways in 27 counties across the state.
Two of those projects will include the installation of single lane roundabouts at the intersections of Bradner and Fostoria on State Route 579. They won’t require any local dollars and will be funded through ODOTs Highway Safety Improvement Program, which is the largest safety program in the country based on per capita spending.
The record investment has led to four consecutive years of reduced fatalities and serious injuries across the state. In 2025, the Ohio State Highway Patrol reported that the number of traffic fatalities in 2025 dropped approximately three percent compared to the previous year, which is a difference of 32 human lives. The decrease continues the downward trend in traffic fatalities that began in 2022, representing 231 lives saved across four years.
"The fact that more people have made it home to their families the past four years is certainly worth celebrating, but make no mistake — the number of people killed on Ohio's roads remains far too high," Governor Mike DeWine said. "Everyone has a role in making our roads safer, and we all have more work to do."
Northwood’s city administrator Kevin Laughlin, who has been in his position just shy of three years, said the news of the roundabout additions locally is “great news.”
“We’ve fielded a lot of concerns and complaints about 579,” he said. “It’s been kind of one of those things — what do you do. It’s a state route. We only have half the right-of-way. It’s always a very sticky issue, so I think for ODOT to be taking on these projects is proof that the system does work. We’re working diligently to make our roadways and thoroughfares as safe as possible not only for Northwood residents but for everyone.”
Laughlin said this has been a long time coming.
“We started noticing an uptick in not only accidents, but serious injury accidents,” he said. “I believe there was a fatality there last year or the year before, so this was something that we started addressing with ODOT, and ODOT said, 'We'll think of it. We’ll put together a solution.’ It went through their safety study process, and because of the injury accidents and those sorts of things, it scored very highly.”
Laughlin said the city previously tried rumble strips and flashing lights at the stop signs at the Fostoria and 579 intersection, but he said “those sorts of things just weren’t moving the needle at all.”
“ODOT took the initiative, went through their study process, did the safety application, and it seems like the projects are officially green lit,” he said.
For the Fostoria Road roundabout, preliminary engineering has already started with right-of-way determination, acquisition likely to happen next year, and with construction occurring in 2029. Meanwhile, the Bradner Road one is slated to have each of those phases in 2027, 2028, and 2030.
Laughlin said the preliminary study on the Fostoria Road intersection came back 100 percent in need of a roundabout, while the Bradner Road intersection had the potential of becoming a four-way stop. However, ODOT decided on another roundabout.
“They took the initiative on sort of managing this project because it's in two counties and three separate jurisdictions in those counties,” Laughlin said. “There's a lot of logistical work that will go into this project, so we were very enthusiastic about them taking the initiative because there's coordination between Lake Township and the City of Northwood in Wood County, and then Ottawa County and Allen Township. There's a lot of moving parts there.”
All in all, Laughlin is excited about improving the safety locally.
“We've worked with ODOT on a number of those sorts of safety measures that we've implemented over the years,” he said. “It's one of those things where we felt like everything we were kind of doing wasn't really moving the needle safety wise. It’s probably the best, safest measure, and the best way to move forward.”
According to OSHP statistics, 23 percent of fatal crashes in 2025 were the result of driving off the roadway. In addition, failure to yield the right of way, unsafe speed, driving left of center, following too closely, and running a stop sign were the next top reasons for fatal crashes statewide. Although distracted driving is underreported, it is also believed to be a significant contributing factor to crashes overall.
DeWine has been an advocate against distracted driving. In 2023, he signed Senate Bill 288, which now prohibits all drivers, in most circumstances, from using or holding a cell phone or electronic device while driving. In the two years since enforcement of Ohio's primary distracted driving law began on Oct. 5, 2023, traffic fatalities have dropped 11 percent, a difference of 280 lives, when compared to the two years before enforcement began.
Failure to wear a seatbelt also remains a major factor in traffic deaths. In crashes involving vehicles outfitted with seatbelts, nearly 62 percent of individuals killed from 2021 to 2025 chose not to wear a safety belt, equating to nearly 2,500 people.
