Monday March 9th the Village of Payne and Ohio Department of Transportation’s District 1 Deputy Director Kirk Slusher squared off in a debate of the Village’s right to replace the downtown traffic signals. It is ODOT’s position that the intersection of SR 49 and Townline (SR 613) should no longer have any lighted traffic control device. The traffic on 49 will not stop, the traffic on Townline (SR 613) would now have only stop signs. The stop bar on the west side would be moved forward slightly to improve the view of the intersection heading eastbound on Townline (SR 613). The intersection of SR 49 and Merrin St., also part of SR 500 and SR 613, would have a solid green light for traffic on SR 49 unless a traffic sensor detected cars on Merrin St. The only reason that Merrin St. will be issued a stop light permit is because of the visibility due to building proximity at the intersection. According to ODOT, the present design doesn’t have any pedestrian activated switches to activate the red light to cross the street on SR 49. This is a huge concern for the Village of Payne and the safety of their children and residents. The Village also has a major concern over all the slow moving farm wagons during harvest to the largest public grain handling facility in Paulding County.
The entire situation was triggered by a lightning strike that took out the traffic control panel for the two downtown stoplights. To repair the stoplights properly a certified traffic light control company would need a permit from ODOT. This gave ODOT the control of the situation and they required a traffic study to be done before repairs could be made. This left the Village with temporary stop signs and the eyesore of plastic bags covering the traffic lights. The results of the study showed that there is so little traffic that it didn’t even register on the chart according to ODOT. When asked if there was a break down or any consideration of the heavy truck traffic in the study the answer was NO.
Most of the Village officials and residents have found that the 4-way stop at both intersections has actually made the traffic flow safer and smoother than ever before. The Village would be happy to replace the old stop lights under the permit that is still currently valid from 1963 or go to two 4-way red flashing lights at both intersections. ODOT cited the Ohio Revised Code & the Traffic Control Manual stating that the role of traffic lights is not to control the speed of the vehicles, but to control the traffic flow. ODOT seemed to have made up their mind months ago and took very little into consideration from the approximately 30 people representing the Payne area during the two hour meeting. At the previous meeting in December and at the start of this meeting, ODOT basically threatened to hold back funds to pave the State Routes if the Village reinstalled the lights without the permit. They later backed off that position slightly, which I think had a great deal to do with the attendance of State Rep. Tony Burkley as well as County Commissioners Mark Holtsberry and Roy Klopfenstien.
The support of the Village’s rights were well represented with several speakers voicing their concerns of safety if traffic was allowed to speed through town unchecked by traffic lights. The largest concern was the increase in semi traffic with the addition of several of the area’s livestock operations, the maintenance equipment for wind farms, and highway 49 being the main artery connecting US 24 to US 30. Speakers in favor of the Village’s position included: Sheriff Jason Landers, EMA Director Ed Bohn, Antwerp Exchange Bank’s Geoff Hyman, Divine Mercy School Principal Cathy Schoenauer, Wayne Trace Elementary School representative Nancy Speice, State Representative Tony Burkley, County Commissioner Mark Holtsberry, Williamson Insurance’s Lindsay Timm & Kiley Flaugh, St. Paul UMC Pastor David Rohrer, Paulding County Coroner Joseph Kuhn D.O., The Rock Youth Center’s Jennifer Martin, Payne Chamber’s Chad Benschneider, Payne Police Chief Rodney Miller, and several others showing their support of the Village’s position.
The EMA Director spoke about the 25% increase since last fall of crude oil and other hazardous tankers flowing down the rail road that crosses SR 49 and the increased risk of letting traffic flow unchecked through downtown heading directly at the dangerous rail crossing. Geoff Hyman voiced his concerns for AEB Bank’s drive thru customers exiting onto SR 49 if the light only changes when traffic is sensed on Merrin St. Chad Benschneider asked ODOT for examples of cases where there have been lawsuits over placement of stop lights in which there wasn’t enough traffic to justify a traffic light? This was one of ODOT’s major reasons for denying the permit. The only case they could come up with was in Lima and the case was dropped before it went to court. It was also mentioned that the Payne Chamber along with the Antwerp Exchange Bank in cooperation with the Village of Payne recently invested vast sums of money to revitalize the downtown and now taking away the stoplights is a black eye to the Village and the future of downtown improvements. Cathy Schoenauer spoke of the concern for all of the children crossing the street during school hours and didn’t want to lose one of her students or any of the children walking to the schools. Sheriff Landers encouraged ODOT to see the bigger picture and understand that coming to Payne for a few hours or days of watching traffic doesn’t mean the traffic is the same year round and suggested that Payne should have a say in the traffic control devices.
It was asked if ODOT would even consider letting Payne install a yellow flashing light on 49 with a red flasher on Townline. The answer was simply NO, ODOT finds that flashing lights are ignored shortly after being constructed. Then we asked if ODOT would consider a flashing school zone light on 49 near Divine Mercy School? The answer was NO citing that the school had to have property that had street frontage onto the highway to require such a light. The Village Solicitor Jim Sponseller spoke at length citing the Ohio Revised Code & the Traffic Manual stating that ODOT is using a very narrow interpretation of the code and that it is subjective to interpretation. The code states several times that ODOT “MAY” require the removal of traffic control devices which is the government’s legal term that it can, but it isn’t mandated or required. The Mayor stated that nearly one third of the traffic control manual is corrections and updates to the manual. The overall feeling is that something is driving this issue from special interest groups like the trucking industry to make these small rural towns have less control over their safety control devices. The likelihood is that unless we see several severe crashes at these intersections ODOT will likely keep this point of view. Let this be a warning to all the small towns that you are just one thunderstorm away from losing a part of your town’s identity.
—Chad Benschneider,
Payne Chamber President
