Traffic to increase during holiday weekend

The Memorial Day holiday marks the unofficial beginning of the summer driving season. AAA is predicting 1.5 million Ohioans will travel more than 50 miles from home this weekend.

Ohio roadways typically see a 16-percent increase in traffic for the Memorial Day holiday, the fourth largest increase among high-travel holidays during the year.

During high-travel holidays, ODOT works with its contractors to reduce the size of work zones and open as many lanes of travel as possible. However, with a $2.3 billion investment into Ohio's roads and bridges this year, it's likely that travelers will encounter orange barrels. The biggest work zones are on I-71 and I-270 in Columbus, I-75 in Cincinnati, Findlay and Toledo, I-271 in Cleveland, and I-76 in Akron.

Traveling through work zones requires extra attention from drivers. In 2017 there were 4,891 work zone crashes. They resulted in 606 minor injuries, 119 serious injuries and 19 deaths.

Your best defense against getting stuck in traffic is the OHGO app. It gives you access to real-time traffic data, more than 650 traffic cameras and construction information so you can plan your trip.