Twenty-four crashes have occurred on a 4-mile stretch of I-75 near Austin Landing since construction began in July, the Ohio State Highway Patrol reported.

Six of those crashes caused injuries, according to data from the highway patrol's Ohio Statistics and Analytics for Traffic Safety (OSTATS) dashboard, as the Dayton Daily News first reported. The crashes span the corridor between Lyons Road Bridge in Montgomery County and Pennyroyal Lane Bridge in Warren County, near the Warren County line.

Fourteen of the 24 crashes happened inside the active work zone, which covers only the northbound lanes.

August was the worst month. The patrol responded to 11 crashes in the corridor after lane shifts went into effect at the end of July. Seven of those 11 occurred in the work zone itself.

Lt. Dallas Root, Dayton Post commander of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, said the spike fits a pattern seen at construction zones statewide. Drivers settle into routines and struggle when construction changes the pattern, Root said.

"Until they get used to the new traffic pattern and time things a little bit better, there will be incidents," he said.

The crashes are tied to a $55.1 million Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) widening project that will add a fourth lane in each direction over 4 miles, according to a Dayton Daily News report on the project. The work also includes resurfacing, signal adjustments on Austin Boulevard and guardrail improvements. ODOT projects completion in 2029.

Northbound traffic is shifted to the right side of the roadway. The left lane on southbound I-75 is narrowed to 11 feet. Overnight lane restrictions between Lyons Road and Pennyroyal Road run from 7:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. through the end of September, according to ODOT. The lane shifts and width reductions will remain in place through spring 2027, when the next traffic-pattern change is planned.

Loryn Bryson, ODOT District 7 spokesperson, said in a separate Dayton Daily News report that the current configuration will stay put until spring.

Root said crashes will likely tick up again when that next lane shift happens. Separately, a contraflow lane tied to a $51 million reconstruction project near Needmore Road should be removed by the end of October, he said. That project is expected to wrap up in summer 2027.