The Ohio Department of Transportation is removing a few orange barrels from the roadways ahead of the holiday weekend. ODOT spokesman Matt Bruning says it's an effort to reduce congestion.
AAA estimates 49 million people will travel for the upcoming holiday. About 2.1 million Ohioans are expected to be among them.
"Because of those extra travelers on the road, what we try to do with each of those high-travel holidays is pull up as many of the orange barrels as we can, reduce the size of our work zones where we can, so we can get all that extra travel traffic through."
Bruning says some projects, like work on I-75 in Cincinnati, are too extensive to halt. "In cases where we feel that it's safe to do so we will remove those orange barrels and pull up those barricades so we can get that extra traffic through. It's not always possible."
He says in those construction zones, ODOT is asking drivers to stay alert. "When you see those work zones, they require extra attention. We're talking narrower lanes, we might have a lane shift," Bruning says.
He says ODOT has more than a thousand projects in the state this year, and more than 90% of them are repairing or replacing existing roads and bridges.
Bruning suggests downloading the . A spokesperson for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet recommends using the Waze app for long distance traveling.
KTC's Nancy Wood says there are some interstate projects in progress with lane shifts and closures that can't be adjusted for the holiday.
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