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HOWLAND -- Residents crossing through one of Howland's central roads have endured months of construction, and one asked what could be done about motorists who don't obey the rules as crews continue to work.
Officials at a recent trustees meeting heard from Ed Palumbo, who asked about ways to make drivers obey the turn restrictions on East Market Street. Palumbo was referring to an Ohio Department of Transportation project that has closed some left-turn lanes to widen the road, is adding a right-turn lane for southbound traffic on state Route 46 to East Market, and a right-turn lane for northbound traffic on Route 46 to East Market Street. The project began in May and is expected to run through late October.
Ray Marsch, public information officer for ODOT District 4, said in May that the project is safety-driven, citing a study from 2012 to 2016 that noted 90 crashes at the intersection.
Of that number, 23 resulted in an injury, he said.
"Can anybody do anything about these people who ignore no-left-turn signs and just sit there in traffic and hold everybody up so they can make their left turn?" Palumbo said.
Police Chief Nick Roberts said the department has officers there and they've been conducting traffic stops, noting that they stopped four cars that day.
"I personally went through that intersection, and there were two women heading northbound to make a left," Roberts said. "I sat in the intersection and turned my lights on, and I said, 'No, no left turn -- it says right there, right in front of your car.'"
"We're doing what we can," he added.
Palumbo said he's seen days when motorists don't make the left turns when no construction is happening.
"I've seen people flip the bird to a construction worker, give them one of these, yell at them," Palumbo said.
"We can't be there 24/7 -- we have other calls for service, but today we had officers there who weren't tied up on anything, and they were stopping cars that were doing that (making left turns)," Roberts said.
Palumbo said he's observed some motorists driving pretty close to the white line, maybe over it, by the fire station going south, when firefighters have their ladder truck out -- joking that a big truck might just take part of it someday.
That might not be far from reality, though, according to fire Chief Ray Pace.
"You're correct -- the issue that we're going to run into is if they widen that road more to the west, we will no longer be able to pull our ladder truck out onto the pad," Pace said. "Because the end of it (the truck) is already hanging off (Route) 46."
Pace said firefighters will no longer be able to pull their apparatus outside on the front pad and check them each day, as crews continue to widen the road.
"We'll have to pull them out and around the fire station out back, and then pull it around the fire station and back it back in," Pace said. "Because our front pad, because of the amount of right-of-way, which Mr. (Public Works Director David) McCann and I talked about and measured it, they can pretty much take to the concrete, which will not allow us to pull a firetruck out without literally entering the roadway."
Pace said their ambulances will probably be able to pull out without being in the roadway, but the fire trucks are a different story -- calling every day a challenge.
"I want to compliment Kirila (Contractors Inc.) -- they've been very proactive; I've watched them physically jump into traffic to stop cars to allow us to respond to emergencies, because a lot of people don't pay attention," Pace said. "I sat at the corner of High Street in my car with my lights and my sirens on, probably two minutes, until the Kirila people came over and physically stopped traffic so I could get out."
Pace reiterated the potential for things to worsen, noting that the two fire trucks he speaks of are the longest in the whole fleet and only fit in their current building.
"I can't even relocate them to another building; they won't fit -- it's gonna be more difficult for us," Pace said.