CHESTER TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Clinton County homeowner Roger Hollingsworth said he’s unfortunately used to replacing his fence line near his home on State Route 73.
“I think I’ve repaired the fence 15 times in that time period," he said. "There’s been more than 25 accidents. Some of them across the road, some on the other end of the curve."
Hollingsworth has lived in the home between Williams and Oglesbee Roads for more than 34 years. He said a curve in the road near his home has been the site of many crashes over the past few decades.
“The last one there was 110 foot of fence torn out. I slept through it,” he said.
But he said he couldn’t sleep through what unfolded in front of his home Tuesday evening.
“I don’t want to witness that again,” he said.
Prezzleigh Goldie, 15, and Rosa Mendoza, 18, were killed following a crash on that stretch of road. Ohio State Highway Patrol officials believe Mendoza lost control of her car, over-corrected, and crashed into another vehicle.
The crash had homeowners asking questions about if an engineering fix could reduce the number of crashes.
“I talked to (ODOT) about the curve. They said there wasn’t money for it at the time. That’s been awhile. Now, we have a double fatality. I’m just wondering if that’s something they should look at,” he said.
The Ohio Department of Transportation released a statement about the stretch of SR-73:
"Staff from the traffic department pulled crash data in this area, and taking a look at this information between 2018 and 2021, it shows there have been a total of eight crashes in the curve between Williams and Oglesbee roads during the four-year period, which averages two crashes per year. The roadway departure crashes in the curve occur most often in wet (75%) and dark (63%) conditions, and most of the crashes involved vehicles traveling in the westbound direction.
With regards to countermeasures suggested below, this section of SR-73 is not on any Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) priority safety lists and is currently ineligible for safety funding that would be used to develop and construct a project to realign the curve and straighten the route. In addition, all proper signing is in place at the curve. There are curve warning signs with advisory speed plaques and chevrons for both directions of travel, and there is a large direction arrow for westbound traffic, which is the direction of travel with more crashes. This location would not warrant guardrail because there is no drop off the side of the roadway, and rumble strips/stripes could be added, but that would be done during a resurfacing project."
Hollingsworth remained hopeful that something will be done to help straighten the curve where two teens were killed this week.
“They don’t need to take the whole curve out. Just feather it. Just take the inside radius out, and stretch it. I think that would make a world of difference,” he said.
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