Kent plans safety improvements for some state Route 261 intersections

Concerned with the volume of traffic accidents at two intersections along state Route 261, Kent city leaders hope two changes will save lives and property.

Sometime in the “next 12 months,” signal heads with left turn arrows will be placed over the left turn lanes and dilemma zone detection devices will be added at the state route’s Franklin Avenue/Sunnybrook Road and Mogadore Road intersections, City Engineer Jim Bowling said.

“There will be no more permissive left turns on green,” he said.

When dilemma detection devices recognize oncoming vehicles at a certain distance away, the devices will cause the traffic light to stay green “so the driver is not having a dilemma to get through the light at yellow or red,” Bowling said.

He could not specify how far the devices could “see.” The devices will face state Route 261, east and westbound. 

Initially intending to only install the left turn signal heads, Bowling had asked the city for $28,000. Then, realizing that Kent’s budget had available funds, he recently requested an additional $122,000 for the dilemma detection devices.

State Route 261 was constructed through Kent and Franklin Township in the 1960s to be part of a larger freeway system that was never built. AMATS, the Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study, looked at the “highway to nowhere” in 2019 and confirmed what locals already knew: “a four-lane divided roadway is unnecessary to serve the long-term needs of the area, and a reduced two-lane facility will be sufficient.”

To be fair, 261 isn’t all four-lane divided highway. It becomes one between the Cherry Street and Mogadore Road intersections and remains so until shortly west of where it crosses Summit Road.

Restructuring that stretch into a two-lane road would take more money than the city has, Bowling said. What Kent can do is review crash data and do what it can to improve safety.

According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, within a 220-foot radius of the Route 261/Mogadore Road intersection, there were 33 accidents from Jan. 1, 2020, to Oct. 6, 2025. The accidents included one fatality in 2023, and one with serious injury suspected in 2025. The OSHP logged seven accidents in 2023, five in 2024 and five so far in 2025. 

The Route 261/Franklin Avenue/Sunnybrook Road intersection saw 21 accidents from Jan. 1 2020, to Oct. 6, 2025. The incidents included one fatality and one with suspected serious injury in 2024.

The Route 261/Campus Center Drive intersection saw 11 accidents: three in 2020, two in 2021, one in 2022 and five in 2025. Most were minor incidents, though one resulted in a suspected serious injury, one in a suspected minor injury and others with possible injury.

Bowling could not speculate why the crash stats jumped from one to three in 2020-2024 to six in 2025.

From Jan. 1, 2020, to Oct. 6, 2025, the routes 261/43 intersection saw 16 accidents, including four in 2024 and two in 2025. All were minor, with injury possible or no injury.

State Route 261 is a divided four-lane highway at those intersections.

It loses that distinction at its other Portage County intersections. From Jan. 1, 2020, to Oct. 6, 2025, the Route 261/Middlebury Road intersection saw four accidents, two in 2021 and two in 2024. Both were minor, involving only property damage.

During the same time period, the Route 261/Cherry Street intersection saw 15 accidents, one with minor injury suspected in 2024 and two with property damage only in 2025. 

At the Route 261/Summit Road intersection, the OSHP tallied 23 accidents from Jan. 1, 2020, to Oct. 6, 2025. The incidents included seven in 2023, two in 2024 and two in 2025. Most were minor incidents, though one in 2023 involved a suspected serious injury.

At routes 261 and 59, the OSHP logged 13 accidents from Jan. 1, 2020, to Oct. 6, 2025. There was one incident in 2024 and two in 2025, all minor.