A nine-mile stretch of highway along the
Ohio River has become the scene of thousands of accidents and at
least 22 deaths since the opening of a riverboat casino, despite
road improvements and increased Indiana State Police patrols.
"About every couple of months, something happens," said Ruth Tate, who is often wakened by sirens at her home along Indiana 111 a few miles north of the Horseshoe Southern Indiana casino near Elizabeth. "It's really bad when we've had fatalities right near us."
The most recent fatality occurred in April when police say an impaired driver crossed the center line and smashed into two cars before killing a New Albany woman riding a motorcycle.
Traffic and accidents on the two-lane country highway that leads south from New Albany have increased dramatically since the casino and its 500-room hotel opened in November 1998, The Courier-Journal of nearby Louisville, Ky., reported.
Police say there have been more than 3,000 vehicle collisions since 2003, with 637 involving injuries. Statistics compiled by the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute and newspaper records shows at least 22 fatalities during the past decade, including five deaths in the past two years.
Jordan Andrews, who survived a November 2009 crash that killed two of his friends and that police blamed on excessive speed, said the road is dark at night with heavy traffic and few signs to alert drivers of dangerous spots.
"I still think that road is ridiculous," he said.
Daily traffic counts on the 8.6 miles between New Albany and the casino have more than tripled since 1995, from 3,840 vehicles to 12,530 this year, according to records from the Indiana Department of Transportation.
Former casino owner Caesars World of Las Vegas spent several million dollars to widen the two-lane highway and add broad paved shoulders before the casino opened. Contractors also raised the road in places, cut off humps and straightened turns to improve sight lines. The two lanes were increased to three in some places, and to four at the casino entrances.
State highway engineers also ordered other improvements, including traffic lights at two intersections.
State police designated the stretch between the casino and New Albany a crash-reduction zone about two years ago, increasing patrols with marked and unmarked cruisers to target impaired and inattentive drivers, speeders and tailgaters, said state police spokesman Sgt. Jerry Goodin.
Engineers and police say the road is adequate for the traffic it carries and point to other reasons for the frequent crashes.
"It's not the road. It's the drivers who are inattentive. It's drivers speeding," said Floyd County Sheriff Darrell Mills.
State police Capt. Steve Priest, who has patrolled the road since the early 1980s, has his own theory.
"They improved the road, and people increased their speed," Priest said.
------
Information from: The Courier-Journal, http://www.courier-journal.com
"About every couple of months, something happens," said Ruth Tate, who is often wakened by sirens at her home along Indiana 111 a few miles north of the Horseshoe Southern Indiana casino near Elizabeth. "It's really bad when we've had fatalities right near us."
The most recent fatality occurred in April when police say an impaired driver crossed the center line and smashed into two cars before killing a New Albany woman riding a motorcycle.
Traffic and accidents on the two-lane country highway that leads south from New Albany have increased dramatically since the casino and its 500-room hotel opened in November 1998, The Courier-Journal of nearby Louisville, Ky., reported.
Police say there have been more than 3,000 vehicle collisions since 2003, with 637 involving injuries. Statistics compiled by the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute and newspaper records shows at least 22 fatalities during the past decade, including five deaths in the past two years.
Jordan Andrews, who survived a November 2009 crash that killed two of his friends and that police blamed on excessive speed, said the road is dark at night with heavy traffic and few signs to alert drivers of dangerous spots.
"I still think that road is ridiculous," he said.
Daily traffic counts on the 8.6 miles between New Albany and the casino have more than tripled since 1995, from 3,840 vehicles to 12,530 this year, according to records from the Indiana Department of Transportation.
Former casino owner Caesars World of Las Vegas spent several million dollars to widen the two-lane highway and add broad paved shoulders before the casino opened. Contractors also raised the road in places, cut off humps and straightened turns to improve sight lines. The two lanes were increased to three in some places, and to four at the casino entrances.
State highway engineers also ordered other improvements, including traffic lights at two intersections.
State police designated the stretch between the casino and New Albany a crash-reduction zone about two years ago, increasing patrols with marked and unmarked cruisers to target impaired and inattentive drivers, speeders and tailgaters, said state police spokesman Sgt. Jerry Goodin.
Engineers and police say the road is adequate for the traffic it carries and point to other reasons for the frequent crashes.
"It's not the road. It's the drivers who are inattentive. It's drivers speeding," said Floyd County Sheriff Darrell Mills.
State police Capt. Steve Priest, who has patrolled the road since the early 1980s, has his own theory.
"They improved the road, and people increased their speed," Priest said.
------
Information from: The Courier-Journal, http://www.courier-journal.com
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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