Intersection change comes 5 years after fatal crash

• Safety measures taken at deadly Green Township intersection
• Father hopes the change%2C brought about by his daughter's death%2C will save lives

Five years ago this Sunday, Melissa Urbisci, a bright, beautiful young woman, woke to meet the day not knowing it would be her last.

The 22-year-old, described as a combination of old soul and jubilant youth, had recently completed the nursing program at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College and disaster training with the Red Cross.

She aspired to work in Third World countries and her love for nature and her peaceful demeanor had earned her the nickname "Italian hippie."

She would, however, never accomplish those dreams. Her life would be cut short that afternoon in a traffic accident at Harrison Avenue and Rybolt Road in Green Township.

That could have been the end to Melissa's story, but instead her father, Michael Urbisci, has doggedly fought for change at the intersection – which over recent years has had the worst rate of accidents of any in suburban Hamilton County, according to an analysis run last year by The Enquirer.

It took five years, but changes have now been made at the intersection.

"The day (the change) happened, I was elated," Michael Urbisci said. "I felt like I won the lottery but I won zero; I lost it all. It shows however, that if you work with people, and keep persisting, a person is able to make changes."

Signal now protects left-hand turns

On March 8, 2010, Melissa Urbisci was riding in the passenger seat.

Her brother Alessandro was driving. The two were very close and had just signed a lease on an apartment together, when Alessandro turned left onto Rybolt from Harrison and a pickup truck collided with the siblings' car.

Both of the Urbiscis were injured. Melissa was flown to University of Cincinnati Medical Center but died while undergoing surgery.

In his grief and bewilderment, their father eventually began reviewing crash data and discovered the high accident rate at the crossing. He started pushing local politicians, the Hamilton County Engineer's Office and the Ohio Department of Transportation to consider changes.

"Was the yellow light too short?" Urbisci asked. "Is 40 mph an appropriate speed limit?"

Officials told him the intersection had been reconfigured just a year before, in 2009, and there wasn't enough crash data to demand change.

But Urbisci kept up the pressure, and after Thomas Brooks, 28, died in a left-turn crash last February, he and Brooks' parents pressed harder, circulating a petition.

The Hamilton County Engineer's Office took a harder look and their review showed a "grossly imbalanced" crash rate, according to County Engineer Ted Hubbard.

Of the 73 accidents reported at Harrison and New Rybolt over a three-year period, 22 of them were between a car turning left and a vehicle approaching from the opposite direction – 19 of the 22 occurred in one particular lane.

The engineer's office and ODOT then hired a consultant to conduct a review of the signal timings. If you've driven through recently, you may have noticed the orange "Signal Operation Changed" sign hanging next to the traffic light.

Now oncoming traffic has a red light when left-hand turns are being made from either direction, in an effort to protect motorists. Timers has been added at the crosswalks.

The consultant who has been observing the study area is now developing the final report but the alteration has created some unwanted traffic back-ups, Hubbard said.

"That's exactly what we were worried about," he said, "so we still have some work to do to fine tune the timing."

For father, the solution is 'bittersweet'

As Michael Urbisci and his family prepare for the anniversary of Melissa's death on Sunday, he said the pain of losing her has never subsided.

"I'm proud of what I've been able to accomplish," Michael Urbisci said. "But it doesn't do anything for me but make me proud of my daughter and Tommy, who lost their lives. It's bittersweet."

On March 8, Melissa's loved ones will hold onto memories of her, a beautiful soul who always carried a camera and enjoyed time with her extended family at weekly dinners at her grandmother's house in West Chester Township.

They'll remember her dancing, enthusiastically teaching Jazzercise and always wearing a smile.

Her crash-site memorial reads: "Still Dancing."