onto A1 uses the southernmost bridge. In the United States in 2005, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) considered reconfiguring the existing interchange on Interstate 75 at U.S. Route 224 and State Route 15 west of Findlay as a diverging diamond interchange to improve traffic flow. Had it been constructed, it would have been the first DDI in the United States. By 2006, ODOT had reconsidered, instead adding lanes to the existing overpass. The Missouri Department of Transportation was the first US agency to construct one, in Springfield at the junction between I-44 and Missouri Route 13 (at ). Construction began the week of January 12, 2009, and the interchange opened on June 21, 2009. This interchange was a conversion of an existing standard diamond interchange, and used the existing bridge. In 2010, the Federal Highway Administration released a publication titled "Alternative Intersections/Interchanges: Informational Report (AIIR)" with a chapter dedicated to this design. Additional research was conducted by a partnership of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center and published by Ohio Section of the Institute of Transportation Engineers. On August 14, 2011, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) completed conversion of the intersection of U.S. Route 68 and Kentucky Route 4 in Lexington to a diverging diamond design, the first in the state and the sixth completed nationally. Stantec, the engineers who completed the upgrades to the interchange, noted the solution while providing substantial cost savings over other possible options also has decreased accidents by 45 percent, improved traffic flow to more than 35,000 vehicles per day, and incorporated KYTC's goal to provide new paths for bicycles and pedestrians through the area. That same day in Highland, Utah the seventh U.S. diverging diamond interchange opened at the intersection of I-15 and Timpanogos Highway. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation the goals of this intersection upgrade were similar, increasing traffic capacity and improved pedestrian and bicycle access while reaching these goals without requiring substantial revisions to the existing interstate overpass. Quoting a June 2014 USDOT publication, "...the DDI has made travel more efficient and accessible for all users." In February 2016, the Oregon Department of Transportation opened a Diverging diamond interchange (DDI) in Phoenix, Oregon (south of Medford). Construction began in February 2015 and was completed in September 2016 at a total cost of just under $72 million . This was the first DDI