POLAND Cops turn back truckers on shorter bridge detour

The bridge should be finished sometime in October.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
POLAND -- Anyone traveling between the village and township via the Yellow Creek bridge has likely faced the ongoing bridge replacement work.
The bridge is 247 feet long, but the posted detour takes drivers on an 18-mile journey through Struthers, Campbell and western Pennsylvania before rejoining U.S. Route 224 -- that is the posted detour.
Many locals, and a few too many truck drivers, however, have learned a shorter detour down Riverside Drive, a small street that makes the shortcut less than a quarter-mile long. The problem is, Riverside Drive is not open to large trucks.
Police Chief Russell Beatty said truck traffic along the small street has gone up substantially since the bridge closed. The bridge is due to reopen in October.
Beatty said officers have been routinely checking the street for illegal truck traffic and making trucks that are too large turn around. He said citations given to truckers for driving across Riverside Drive have risen "roughly 20 percent" since the bridge closed.
Traffic control
Beatty said an officer has been placed at the Riverside Drive-Route 224 intersection for traffic control when manpower allows.
Some have suggested an officer also be placed at the Route 224-state Route 170- state Route 616 intersection for traffic control. Councilman Marc Cossette made the suggestion to council and Beatty after discussion at a recent Western Reserve Joint Fire District meeting.
Cossette said the suggestion was in response to the fire chief's concerns about traffic backing up at the intersection during peak hours. He said the backup is caused by many people trying to make a right hand turn onto Route 170 and getting stuck under the red light.
Cossette, in his letter, said township police offered to have an officer stand by at the intersection daily from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., but Beatty said that is not necessary. He said other traffic control measures have been implemented to control the problem.
"We have made adjustments in the traffic signals, and realistically, people need to be a little more patient and realize this is a temporary situation," he said.
The time of the green light on Route 170 has been lengthened and a no right hand turn on red sign on Route 224 has been removed. Beatty said there have been no more accidents at the intersection than usual.
Beatty said placing an officer at the intersection would cost the village about $30 an hour. He added there is a safety issue for officers standing in traffic at the intersection and that, he says, is the bigger issue.
jgoodwin@vindy.com