WASHINGTON — Three sections of Vanderburgh County roads are among the most dangerous in Indiana, according to a report submitted by the state to the federal Department of Transportation.
The report, prepared by the Indiana Department of Transportation and the Center for Road Safety at Purdue University, lists a 0.31-mile section of Green River Road from East Virginia Street to Carriage Drive, a 0.15-mile section of Green River Road from Morgan Center Drive to Boonville Highway and a 0.3-mile section of Kratzville Road from Hobart Avenue to West Buena Vista Drive among the state’s most hazardous local road segments.
It also cites four Vanderburgh County state road intersections “currently exhibiting the most severe highway safety needs:” U.S. 41 at Washington Avenue; West Diamond Avenue at Kratzville Road; West Lloyd Expressway at Fulton Avenue; and West Lloyd Expressway at Red Bank Road. And it lists three local road intersections — Washington Avenue at South Weinbach Avenue, Northwest Riverside Drive at Court Street and Maxwell Avenue at North Fares Avenue, all in Evansville.
The roads were listed in the Indiana 2010 Five-Percent Report, part of the national Highway Safety Improvement Program aimed at reducing traffic fatalities and serious injuries. Under the program, every state is required to submit an annual report describing not less than 5 percent of its highway locations exhibiting the most severe safety needs. The current report uses traffic statistics from 2007 to 2009.
The intent of this particular reporting requirement, according to the Department of Transportation, is to increase public awareness of the highway safety needs and challenges around the country.
Indiana reported 95,701 miles of public roads in 2009, with total travel on those byways reaching almost 74 billion miles.
The state experiences 190,000 to 205,000 traffic crashes each year, 600 to 800 of them involving fatalities. Another 34,000 to 38,000 involve personal injury crashes while 150,000 to 170,000 result in property damage.
“The personal, societal, and economic costs of these crashes are staggering,” according to the report.
The report also said Green River Road from East Virginia Street to Carriage Drive saw 89 total crashes during the reporting period, none of which resulted in fatalities although there were two incapacitating injuries. Green River Drive from Morgan Center Drive to Old Boonville Highway was the site of 12 crashes, with one fatality and on incapacitating injury while the Kratzville Road section saw 11 crashes with zero fatalities but four incapacitating injuries.
On the intersection side: U.S. 41 at Washington Avenue experienced 57 total crashes, resulting in four incapacitating injuries; West Diamond Avenue at Kratzville Road was the site of 24 accidents and five incapacitating injuries; West Lloyd Expressway at Fulton Avenue had 88 crashes and three incapacitating injuries; and West Lloyd Expressway and Red Bank Road suffered 75 accidents, resulting in three deaths and one incapacitating injury.
The Washington Avenue at South Weinbach Avenue site saw 50 crashes with two incapacitating injuries. Northwest Riverside Drive at Court Street had 17 crashes and two incapacitating injuries while Maxwell Avenue at North Fares Avenue had 18 crashes, one fatality and one incapacitating injury.
Of the counties surrounding Vanderburgh, only Gibson County had a problem roadway listed — a 0.6-mile stretch of Indiana 64 from County Road 850 to County Road 800 southeast of East Mount Carmel. It was the site off 66 accidents, a fatality and three incapacitating injuries.