AKRON, Ohio – More lane closures are coming to a section of Ohio 8 in Summit County that has seen increased accidents in Cuyahoga Falls, Hudson and Stow since construction began in March on a $58 million reconstruction project.

Police in the three communities have collectively dealt with nearly 100 accidents since the start of the three-year project, which involves replacing and repaving the northbound and southbound lanes of Ohio 8 between Graham Road, in Cuyahoga Falls and Stow, to Ohio 303 in Hudson.

That section of Ohio 8 southbound will be reduced to one lane nightly, from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., through mid-July, Ohio Department of Transportation spokesman Brent Kovacs told cleveland.com on Monday.

Crews began work in March on the median section. The northbound lanes are scheduled for construction in 2020 and the southbound lanes are set for 2021.

Between 50,000 to 60,000 vehicles drive on the six-mile stretch of road each day, according to ODOT.

When Stow police Sgt. Theodore Bell was struck on May 6 in his cruiser while assisting an overnight construction crew on Ohio 8 near Steels Corners Road, that was the 25th crash for which Stow police had responded in the city’s section of the construction zone.

Stow police have dealt with more than 20 crashes on the freeway since then, Capt. Brian Snavely told cleveland.com.

From March 27 to June 7, Stow police were called to a total of 46 crashes, Snavely said. During that same period last year, officers responded to 16 crashes on Ohio 8.

The number of crashes, including those that caused injuries, also increased for Cuyahoga Falls police since construction began on Ohio 8 in early March.

Last spring, Falls police reported 42 crashes on Ohio 8, including 10 crashes that injured people. This spring, officers responded to 48 crashes, including 13 where people were hurt.

In all of 2018, Hudson police were called to eight crashes on Ohio 8, according to a city spokeswoman. So far in 2019, Hudson officers have responded to at least nine crashes on Ohio 8, including one 80-car pileup that was caused by winter weather, not construction.

“Following too close is the leading cause of crashes in any construction zone,” Kovacs said. “Any time a motorist is in a construction zone, they need to slow down, follow the posted speed limit, and that also helps motorists pay attention to any curves or turns that may not have normally been there in the past.”

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