BATAVIA, Ohio — The Ohio Department of Transportation and the Village of Batavia began a roughly monthlong project Monday to improve a busy and crash-prone intersection along State Route 32, where a fatal three-vehicle crash last year intensified calls for a permanent safety fix.
According to transportation officials, crews will spend about 30 days building concrete islands on Herold Road, adding a concrete curb along the median of State Route 32, and widening and extending the left-turn lane from eastbound Route 32 to northbound Herold Road.
ODOT said the project is intended to improve safety at the intersection, which had previously received temporary measures including pavement markings, updated signage, traffic delineators and a temporary curb installation.
The work comes after a September 2024 crash at the intersection that killed one woman and sent several others to hospitals.
ODOT spokesperson Kathleen Fuller said the project will install permanent infrastructure designed to better channel traffic movements through the area.
The project will cost about $762,908 and is being built by the John R. Jurgensen Co.
Construction is expected to affect traffic in phases. During the first seven days, the right lane in both directions of State Route 32 will be closed, and turns onto Herold Road from both directions will be restricted, according to ODOT. Residents north of Herold Road will be detoured via State Route 276 and Bauer Road, while traffic on the south side will use Hospital Drive and Bauer Road.
For the following three weeks, crews will close the left lane of State Route 32 in both directions, and the northbound Herold Road detour will remain in place.
Officials said the work could cause backups in the corridor, which also serves nearby residents, businesses and Mercy Health – Clermont Hospital. Once the project is complete, normal traffic patterns are expected to resume.
The Batavia-area work is separate from broader long-term State Route 32 corridor improvement efforts in Clermont County, which have focused on reducing at-grade intersections and improving traffic flow along one of southern Ohio’s busiest east-west routes.
