Driver injured after leaving roadway in I-80 construction zone

Staff report

AUSTINTOWN

Authorities briefly stopped traffic Thursday on Interstate 80 to clear a single-vehicle accident.

Officials from the Canfield Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol said they were called to that accident about 10:18 a.m. A woman, who was not identified, was transported to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital for “bumps and bruises,” the patrol said.

According to the patrol, the woman’s vehicle went off the right side of the road while driving on I-80 eastbound, just west of the exit ramp for state Route 11 southbound. Her vehicle struck a guardrail, re-entered the roadway and went across traffic and crashed into a concrete barrier.

That section of I-80 recently had a lane shift, as the two left lanes are blocked off for construction work. Three lanes of traffic have been shifted to the two right lanes and the shoulder.

State troopers briefly stopped traffic on I-80 for a tow truck to remove the car. The driver told authorities she thought she glanced down at directions she had written out and that’s when she left the roadway.

That section of road is part of 6 miles that will be widened and resurfaced on I-80 from state Route 46 to state Route 193/Belmont Avenue along with replacing six bridges. The $108.4 million project is expected to be completed in July 2018.