As part of the Ohio Department of Transportation’s $88 million dollar Interstate 70 reconstruction project through Zanesville, officials recently announced the installation of additional traffic cameras to monitor and alleviate traffic congestion that has occurred due to numerous crashes, road diversions/closures and slowdowns.

The four additional cameras, three permanent and one temporary, are part of a larger initiative by the agency to feed a state-of-the-art traffic management center in Columbus with both visual and sensor based data to make roadways less gridlocked, allow personnel to more quickly address crashes and improve the overall safety of the roadways for all travelers.

As previously exclusively identified and reported by Y-City News, ODOT launched its first traffic camera in Muskingum County along I-70 in the Summer of 2019. That camera was located at the overpass of State Street and was soon quickly joined by cameras near Underwood Street and US-40 at Rehl Road. All three were a part of the agency’s goal of bringing camera coverage to more rural areas around the state.

Image stills from the cameras are made available on both the state’s website and mobile app, referred to collectively as OHGO. Law enforcement and the media can also subscribe to a higher definition, live feed of the footage.

Cameras, at least those in Muskingum County, are not capable of reading the license plates of vehicles and are only used by ODOT officials, law enforcement and the media to monitor traffic conditions. The city and county dispatch centers also utilize additional cameras installed around their jurisdictions to monitor local roads such as the one along State Route 146 at the main entrance of the Zane State College/Ohio University Zanesville Campus.

According to Morgan Overbey, Public Information Officer for ODOT District Five, the additional cameras, which were installed around the end of last year and just recently turned on and made available to the public, were placed to monitor traffic along I-70 and around the Zanesville area, particularly the ongoing reconstruction project, but will remain after all work is complete mid-decade.

Two cameras were installed along the interstate, one at the interexchange with SR-93 (Adamsville Exit) and another at the interexchange with Sonora Road/Airport Distribution Road (Airport Exit).

One more permanent camera was installed at the intersection of Maple Avenue and Adair Avenue. A deployable camera system was also placed at the intersection of Linden Avenue and Adair Avenue. It is unclear how long that camera deployment will remain.

Overbey said that some of the equipment used for the three new permanent cameras was pieced together with parts already on hand making the exact cost per camera more difficult to compute. A figure of $22,000 in purchased materials was the amount provided for two of the I-70 cameras.

As was the case with previous installments, and unlike in metropolitan areas where fiber is readily accessible, all the cameras in Muskingum County utilized by ODOT work off cellular connections to nearby AT&T towers.

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