Butler Co. Engineer wins award for making roads safer — even when decisions weren’t popular

Credit: Submitted photo

Credit: Submitted photo

Butler County Engineer Greg Wilkens says after 20 plus years in office, he still loves his job. And whether popular or not, his decisions are based on keeping drivers safe on county roads.

Wilkens was recently recognized for heightening safety on county roads by the County Engineers Association of Ohio. He received the CEAO David P. Brand Safety Award for his “dedication to improving the safety of county roads and intersections, and coordinating and promoting safety along all local and state roads.”

CEAO Executive Director Dean Ringle said Wilkens is “worthy of this commendation because his use of roundabouts has significantly reduced crashes in Butler County. This was a timely recognition by his peers in Ohio who have also nominated him for the national award.”

Wilkens built the county’s first modern roundabout in 2006 and to date, has installed 23 roundabouts on the county road system. In addition, six neighborhood traffic circles and one completed roundabout built by the Ohio Department of Transportation bring a total of 30 roundabouts on state, county and township roads.

During an interview with the Journal-News, Wilkens chuckled and said he knows roundabouts are not the most popular choice, but they are the safest.

“I understand some don’t like them,” Wilkens said. “I think generally what you find is people who don’t accept change don’t like them. But I do think there is a majority of people out there who do like them and see the benefit. It’s not a popularity contest to me, it is really about safety.”

Wilkens said the roundabouts have “done their job” noting the department has exceeded safety statistics.

“That’s why we use them, it isn’t a new fad. They exceed safety numbers of signalized intersections, the severity of accident is reduced by 70 percent over signalized intersections and that is why they are the number one tool in our tool box,” he said.

He noted in many cases, other fixes have been tried at accident-prone intersections with no success in crash reduction before a roundabout is proposed.

“People are less patient and more distracted. There are a whole lot more things going on in this world we didn’t deal with before. Slowing people down helps,” Wilkens said.

Wilken, who will turn 69 next month, said he’s not sure there is an end in sight for him as county engineer. The Butler County resident since the age of 7 said his health is good and so is that of his family.

“That’s the toughest question I have in my life right now. It is a struggle for me because I love it. If I didn’t love it, I would be gone,” Wilkens said when asked how long he will stay in office.

Wilkens credited his staff for the award.

“It is nice to be recognized. I really do this for the safety, it is not for the recognition and I am glad they recognized us for all our work. I can’t take the credit, I’ve got a great staff and we are on the cutting edge in a lot of things,” he said.

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