“Wayne Avenue for a very long time has had a reputation as a road you don’t want to be on,” said Willie Morris IV, president of the coalition, which is made up of local residents and members of neighborhood associations, local businesses and public agencies. “It’s a road that houses many of our favorite local shops and public services, but being on the sidewalk for any amount of time is frightening.”
The city has committed to doing a safety study, and it is interested in making improvements to the roadway, but there’s no guarantee it will receive funding for such a project, city officials said.
Late last summer, members of the coalition sent a letter to Dayton leaders and spoke at a city commission meeting to ask the city to try to make a half-mile section of Wayne Avenue less dangerous — from Wyoming Street, north past U.S. 35 to Bainbridge Street.
Coalition members said they would like to see changes like lowering the speed limit, reducing the lanes of travel and adding bike lanes, tree canopies and better crosswalks.
The coalition said Wayne Avenue between Wyoming Street and U.S. 35 had 69 crashes in 2022 alone. That December, 44-year-old Jennifer Johnson of Dayton, who had been waiting at a bus stop, died after being struck by an SUV that lost control in the 1200 block of Wayne.
Coalition members have met with city officials and staff multiple times since last summer to discuss their safety concerns and talk about potential remedies.
The city has installed a mobile speed detection trailer along this part of Wayne Avenue, which has helped, but it’s not a long-term solution, said Laura Estandia, a coalition member.
The coalition would like to see a project that transforms Wayne Avenue into a vibrant, walkable urban corridor, she said.
“At the end of the day, we want to see a street that is designed with people in mind first,” she said.
The coalition is calling for permanent, traffic-calming upgrades to the roadway.
The city has applied for a safety study from the state of Ohio, said David Escobar, Dayton’s city engineer.
The study, which will be administered by the state, will help the city come up with a plan to improve safety on Wayne Avenue, Escobar said, and the city will submit a grant application to the state to request highway safety improvement funds.
The goal is to have a plan ahead of a January 2025 application deadline.
But Escobar said the funding is not guaranteed.
Escobar said traffic capacity must be considered, and it’s very likely that Wayne Avenue cannot have less than two lanes of traffic in each direction. He said that’s because the road design must help prevent traffic congestion and “logjams.”
Estandia said funding for traffic safety projects often takes years to receive and put to work, and the city will explore its options for safety improvements in the meantime.
The coalition supports crosswalk enhancements and possibly new speed tables or cushions in the roadway.
Members say they would like to see the speed limit lowered from 35 mph to 25 mph.
Estandia said she’s “cautiously optimistic” that Wayne Avenue will undergo meaningful safety changes.
“We’d like to see wider sidewalks, more space for pedestrians and street trees and things of that nature,” she said.
The city may be willing to create a boulevard on Wayne Avenue, with a median that separates the lanes of travel in each direction, according to the coalition.
The city already plans to remake other parts of Wayne Avenue, between East Fifth Street and Bainbridge Street, as well as from Waldo Street to Wyoming Street.
One part of Wayne will be widened to accommodate a left-turn lane, while another section south of East Fifth Street will get curb bump outs and other upgrades.
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