Truck traffic increasing in Ohio

More two-lane roads in towns, rural areas clogged with semis, state officials say

Sunday, December 15, 2002

John Seewer

Associated Press

TONY DEJAK | ASSOCIATED PRESS

Trucks cross paths at Sandusky and Main streets in Bellevue. About 600 trucks pass through the town every hour, officials say.

BELLEVUE, Ohio -- The green awning outside what is billed as Ohio's oldest family-owned restaurant is stained with black smoke from the hundreds of tractor-trailers that pass each day.

Across the street, sandstone on the downtown buildings is graying as trucks rumble past.

"It's just bumper to bumper all the way through town,'' said Casey McClain, the fourth-generation owner of the 122-year-old McClain's Historical Restaurant.

Small towns across Ohio are seeing more truck traffic. Higher tolls on the Ohio Turnpike are partly to blame, but there also are more trucks on the road.

Truck traffic on Ohio roads jumped by 42 percent in the 1990s and is expected to climb even more, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation.

In 2001, trucks traveled 24.6 million miles on average per day in Ohio, compared with 16.4 million miles in 1990.

While most commercial trucks travel on interstate highways, more are spilling over onto two-lane roads that weren't built to withstand such high volumes of traffic.

On some busy secondary routes in northern Ohio, trucks account for half of all vehicles on the road, the department says.

The Transportation Department has recommended a 1.6 percent increase in spending in the next 20 years -- from $39.2 billion to $39.9 billion -- to accommodate more truck traffic.

It would be used to widen roads and relieve bottlenecks.

Talk of a bypass around Bellevue, which is about halfway between Cleveland and Toledo and near the turnpike, has been around for decades.

But now with more trucks on the road, there's growing support for a new route.

Mile-long traffic jams on Rt. 20 -- which cuts through town -- are routine. More than 600 trucks pass through each hour on average, a city survey in 2000 found.

It's hard to park downtown. Some businesses have closed while the ones that remain are losing customers.

"We don't have near the business we used to,'' McClain said.

"There are some truckers who do stop,'' said Scott Carroll, owner of Junction Antique Mall. "But most of them are flying through town.''

Still, a new bypass around town may not be a solution business owners would favor.

"A lot of downtown areas die because they put in bypasses,'' Carroll said.

Residents say the truck traffic through town increased when the Ohio Turnpike raised its tolls in 1999.

For truck driver Paul Suntheimer, it's a choice between paying $70 in tolls out of his own pocket or driving an extra 45 minutes on secondary routes.

"Years ago I always took the 'pike,'' he said while hauling steel from Pennsylvania to Indiana. "The tolls are almost double now. It's not much of a choice.''

Taking a secondary road also means slowing down for school zones and traffic lights.

"It just backs up traffic so much,'' said Bellevue Police Chief Dennis Brandal. "Two trucks can plug up a short block.

"But we're not trying to knock the truck drivers.''

In neighboring Clyde, truck traffic increased after Whirlpool opened a distribution center two years ago.

The washing-machine maker tries to get its shipments out before heavy traffic hits town, but still there can be mile-long backups.

"It kind of makes traffic hectic,'' said Police Chief Bruce Gower. "The biggest complaint we get is trucks running red lights.''

The state is building a new highway between the Indiana line and Toledo to replace a two-lane route that is one of the busiest and most dangerous roads in northwest Ohio.

The estimated cost is about $240 million.

The number of trucks on the route between Toledo and Fort Wayne, Ind., more than doubled in the 1990s, according to ODOT.

While truck traffic on secondary roads is heaviest in northern Ohio, it's not limited to that half of the state.

City officials in Urbana and Wilmington in southwestern Ohio say truck traffic is a problem there, too.

"We see a ton of truck traffic,'' said police Lt. Garry Kimpel. "It can take 20 minutes to get across town.''

In Wilmington, truck traffic has always been an issue because of drivers who avoid weigh stations on nearby I-71, said police detective Gary Brannon.

"They bypass the scales through town,'' he said. "It's something we learn to live with.''

Casey McClain, owner of McClain's Historical Restaurant in Bellevue, said truck traffic affects his business.