No traffic jams during air show, officials say

Air Show Sunday

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The Youngstown Air Station Open House and Air Show, Thunder Over the Valley, Sunday, August 9, 2009.

Air Show Saturday

Video

Thunder Over the Valley Air Show at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station Saturday, August 8, 2009.

Youngstown Air Show

Gallery

By Ed Runyan

VIENNA — Last September’s on-ground open house at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station helped build excitement for Saturday and Sunday’s air show and showed local authorities what bugs needed to be worked out.

This year’s show produced a smooth traffic flow both days and the possibility that a similar event might take place again in the “next several years,” said Master Sgt. Bob Barko Jr., public affairs officer for the reserve station.

The weather threw a few obstacles at the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, but the team performs more than 70 times per year and adjusted its mission just as it would in a battle situation, Barko said.

As expected, the Thunderbirds and the other events were crowd-pleasers, especially since they were free.

But the precision with which the logistics were carried out was also impressive, said Lt. Joseph Drago- vich, commander of the Southington Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

“Everything I heard was that everyone was pleased,” Dragovich said. “People have said they never went to an air show where things have gone so well.”

Dragovich said he’s not just talking about the system of parking that placed some of the 64,000 attendees over two days in three lots near the base and the rest in the Trumbull County Fairgrounds.

He said the folks in their cars were also a “really, really nice crowd.”

Unlike last year, when there were some traffic jams on state Route 11 and near the air base, traffic moved smoothly both days, Dragovich said. About 50,000 people attended the 2008 show, which featured “static” displays on the ground, Barko said.

In 2008, event-goers parked their cars on the air base, but that was not possible this year because a Thunderbirds show requires a certain area near the show to be free of civilian vehicles.

“There were zero issues you really had to deal with,” Dragovich said, adding that he kept expecting a flood of traffic at some point, but it never materialized.

By 6:30 p.m. — less than two hours after the Thunderbirds show was over — there were only about 100 cars left at the fairgrounds, Barko said.

The highway patrol and partner police departments from the Trumbull and Ashtabula County Sheriff’s departments, Bazetta, Fowler, Brookfield and Vienna police kept 25 to 30 officers on duty continuously at 17 traffic points to assist drivers.

That job was simplified by the 153 buses that transported people across areas such as Champion and Bazetta townships, Dragovich said.

Much of that manpower came from troopers from the Lisbon, Canfield, Ashtabula, Ravenna and Chardon posts of the highway patrol, which sent between one and four troopers each to help. Even the patrol’s aviation section assisted. Most of the officers were working their normal shifts, but there was some overtime involved, Dragovich said.

The transportation plan used this time should serve as a template for future events, he said.

Barko said Sunday’s heat and humidity did result in a couple of minor injuries that required transport to a local hospital.

Phil Pegg, a Vienna Township trustee who manned the intersection of state Route 193 and Warren-Sharon Road most of the weekend, said the traffic flow in and out of the Methodist and Catholic churches on Warren-Sharon Road didn’t seem to be hampered by the air-show traffic.

“It doesn’t appear anyone was even held up,” Pegg said. “Overall, it was a pleasant experience, quite positive.”

runyan@vindy.com