LEBANON — A project to install cable barriers in the median of a deadly stretch of Interstate 75 in Butler and Warren counties is about a month behind schedule, but the work should be completed this fall, Ohio Department of Transportation officials said Wednesday.

        “We should see construction under way by the end of September, and possibly sooner,” ODOT spokeswoman Kim Patton said. “That contract is going to be put out to bid on Aug. 28.”

        The barriers, three steel cables attached to posts, will run from Ohio 129 (Michael A. Fox Highway) in Liberty Township to Ohio 73 in Franklin. The project will cost $1.5 million.

        Following a rash of median crossover crashes on the 12-mile stretch, ODOT officials this year opted to install the cable system. Work was supposed to begin this summer.

        “We had hoped to start construction in August,” Ms. Patton said. “The design took longer than anticipated.”

        The project is not expected to cause any major clogs.

        The stretch of highway became notorious after 13 people died in 10 crashes between November 2000 and January 2002. Most of the crashes involved cars crossing the median into opposite traffic.

        There were no fatalities on that piece of I-75 during 1998, 1999 or the first 10 months of 2000.

        “No one's been able determine a specific cause as to why so many fatalities occurred in such a short period of time,” Ms. Patton said. “There weren't enough common threads to point to determining factors.”

        After a fiery crash that killed a Michigan man in January, officials examined several options to make the highway safer, including the cable barriers. The system has been used in other states and in one other area of Ohio.

        It is less expensive and faster to install than concrete barriers, ODOT officials said.

        Meanwhile, Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers recently completed a 90-day enforcement blitz in the area watching for aggressive drivers, drivers following too closely and speeders.

        During the heavy enforcement there was one fatal crash on the stretch.

        In that case, a car flew off the ramp from Ohio 129 to south I-75, crossed the south I-75 lanes, crossed the median and into northbound I-75 traffic, where it was hit by a truck.

        “We definitely slowed people down out there,” Highway Patrol Lt. Michael Black said.

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