Cade wins safety award

Hancock County Engineer Douglas Cade has been named the 2023 winner of Ohio's David F. Brand Safety Award by the County Engineers Association of Ohio. Cade also has been nominated for the national David F. Brand Safety Award. The winner of the national award will be named in April 2024 by the National Association of County Engineers. The state and national safety awards recognize an individual who has had a positive influence on improving safety on the local, regional, state and national levels. The award is considered a lifetime achievement award, recognizing an individual's efforts to join forces with other organizations to improve safety and eliminate fatalities and serious injuries. State officials have repeatedly credited Cade with helping in the planning of the new Ohio 15 overpasses on county roads 180 and 169 to prevent fatal and serious-injury crashes. Cade helped officials determine which intersections should get overpasses. He also prevailed upon the County Engineers Association Highway Safety Improvement Program for a $2.4 million grant for the County Road 180 overpass. Cade represents the County Engineer's Association of Ohio on the Ohio Traffic Safety Council. He also serves as the co-chair of the County Engineers Association Safety Committee. He is a founding member of the Hancock County Safe Communities Fatality Review Committee which quarterly reviews fatalities with engineering, law enforcement and health officials to determine the appropriate countermeasures to reduce or eliminate repeated crashes. He is working with the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) to fund and construct three more overpasses along Ohio 15. Cade also is working with ODOT and Findlay to improve the Interstate 75-County Road 99 interchange and corridor.