CINCINNATI — Orange barrels. Traffic delays. And now flat tires!
If driving on Interstate 71 is not bad enough, some say road repaving is to blame for the latest headaches.
A gas station owner says he's seen 10 drivers with flat tires in as many days.
"In the last two weeks, I've seen customers back to back,” said Ayman Abunaffa, whose Marathon station sits just off the Kenwood exit. “They have a flat tire and I was asking them what's going on. They say, ‘I was on 71.’"
The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) is doing a repaving project on I-71, but a spokesperson says there haven't been any flat-tire claims since May 30.
The repaving project will affect southbound I-71 until the end of August. Then, the north side. The project is expected to wrap up by end of summer 2020.
For safety reasons, Abunaffa says the sooner the better.
"They have to fix that road as soon as possible because it's dangerous for the driving, for the traveling, for anybody," he said.
ODOT said its project engineer will have his workers check the roadway for debris, just to make sure there is nothing out there causing those flats.
