Ohio's proposed commitment of $350 million to upgrade Interstate 75 in Southwest Ohio testifies to its worsening condition as the state's second most congested stretch. It's also one of Ohio's highest crash-rate zones. Regional planners were thrilled at Southwest Ohio's projects list, but no one should assume all funds are 100 percent assured or that I-75 relief is imminent. Some projects aren't scheduled for construction until 2010 or later. State and local officials need to make sure financing, planning and construction move forward step by step, without reverses.

The project list is subject to a 90-day public comment period, before final approval in May. Funds are still contingent on federal authorization. Hamilton County is blessed with two representatives on Ohio's nine-member Transportation Review Advisory Council - Charles "Chip" Gerhardt and Nick Vehr. Lawmakers in 1997 created TRAC to fairly distribute highway funds.

TRAC's proposed new projects for Southwest Ohio include adding I-75 lanes in Hamilton, Butler and Warren counties and upgrading such congested interchanges as those at Hopple Street, Mitchell Avenue and I-74. It's no accident those interchanges also rank as top hot spots in crash data released Thursday by the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments. I-75 crash rates here rank horrendously high in an almost unbroken line from the river to Interstate 275, with highest numbers at the Norwood Lateral.

Ohio Department of Transportation Director Gordon Procter has warned some I-75 stretches report accident rates of 80 per mile per year. The interstate system is a half-century old and needs replacing. As a truck-clogged freight highway, I-75 is among the busiest and most battered. Cincinnati's I-75 stretch is complicated by several left-side exit ramps as an added safety threat. Such dangerous, substandard design needs to be fixed.

I-275 was another TRAC winner, with such proposed projects as a $21.5 million added lane from Ohio 4 to U.S. 42 and a $73.5 million upgraded interchange at Ohio 32. TRAC earmarked $12 million to study reconfiguring approaches for a new Brent Spence Bridge and $11 million for parking garages for Cincinnati's riverfront Banks project. Voters last year rejected light rail. That makes I-75 upgrades even more indispensable.

Southwest Ohio I-75 projects

• $101 million for Hopple, I-74, Mitchell interchanges.

• $44 million at Ohio 63.

• $85 million for new lanes, upgrades from Davis Avenue to Glendale-Milford Road.

• $32 million for a new lane from Ohio 129 to Ohio 122.

• $77 million for a new lane, upgrades from Ohio 122 to Montgomery County.