Holiday Travel and Road Construction

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ZANESVILLE, Ohio – Many Americans travel during the Fourth of July holiday weekend right when scheduled road projects are in full swing.

Ohio Department of Transportation District 5 Public Information Officer Morgan Overbey discussed how travelers can learn where projects are occurring and gave some tips for driving through them safely.  

“You know it is construction season and folks are seeing a lot of orange barrels out there and there is quite a few work zones, whether they’re just driving in Muskingum County or maybe you know it’s Guernsey County, Licking County, I mean all over the state. It’s prime construction season at this point in time. So we just like to remind motorists that if you are driving through a work zone, please be cautious,” Overbey said.

Each work zone is different. It may have variable speed limits and lane shifts. Motorists should pay extra attention and read the signs when traffic patterns change.

Overbey recommended that motorists should plan ahead and she suggested an app that can be of big help by mapping out all of the construction zones and traffic slowdowns.

“We do have a website or app that you can use, it’s called ohgo.com O-H-G-O.com or the app,” Overbey said. “And you can plan ahead and see what types of road closures are going to be on your commute. Whether you’re doing holiday travel or a work commute, whatever it may be, you can see what kind of impacts are on there and even if there’s a crash or something, maybe it’s on the interstate or something of that nature, you can see if that is going to impact your drive as well.”

Overbey noted that the Fourth will land on a Tuesday, which might spread out the time motorists will be on the roadway but she still expects heavy traffic leading to possible slowdowns.