Truck turnaround aims to avoid disasters

MILAN TWP. — Erie County officials hope a new turnaround will alleviate problems for wayward truckers traveling on Kelley Road in Milan Township. The problem The road is locally infamous for the low railroad underpass bridge that has been struck by too-tall trucks many times throughout the years. The bridge's clearance is a little less than 12 feet from the road surface. Most large trucks exceed 13 feet in height. One notable example of a bridge strike at the location occurred in November 2022 when a UPS semi truck's trailer struck the bridge, ripping the entire roof off the vehicle. Oftentimes, drivers coming off the Ohio Turnpike will erroneously head northbound when they mean to go south to locations, such as the new Love's truck stop, according to Erie County Sheriff Paul Sigsworth. Those drivers' GPS units will then recalculate and send them down Mason to Kelley to Strecker roads. Drivers who realize their mistake after passing numerous signs but before striking the bridge will then face the dilemma of having to turn around. The solution Erie County workers recently finished installing a gravel turnaround near the water tower across from Dave's Park Avery store. They still need to perform some site grading, according to John Rufo, utilities director of the county's environmental services department. He added that it can definitely be used. "A considerable number of drivers continue to disregard low clearance bridge street signs that prohibit high-profile vehicles from traveling down Kelley Road from Mason (Road)," Rufo said Before last week, the road only had a few options. While there are about a dozen private driveways, most of the section of Kelley Road between Mason and the bridge has farm fields on either side. Some drivers elect to use the Erie County Municipal Court's parking lot as an illegal turnaround. County workers also installed diverters on the Kelley Road driveway of the municipal court to dissuade truckers from attempting to use the parking lot as a turnaround. "We hope that our new turnaround will eliminate property damage, which is being caused by trucks that are utilizing Erie County's Municipal Court parking lot and other surrounding private properties as turn-arounds," Rufo said. Hopefully, the accidents stop, and drivers — if they head the wrong way — use the turnaround instead of the court's parking lot to, ultimately, avoid disaster with the low bridge. "My office has installed additional signage indicating that through trucks are prohibited to try to mitigate the concerns, but we are (continuing) to monitor the situation as trucks continue to try to use the roadway," Erie County engineer Eric Dodrill said.