Marshall County Commissioner Stan Klotz and Highway Superintendent Jason Peters took a road trip to an older timber bridge on 2B Road, south of U.S. 6 between Sycamore Road and Rose Road last week after being notified about the number of semis traveling the county road.
Commissioner Klotz said, “We drove out there, and in a matter of about 30 to 35 minutes we seen 4 heavy trucks go across that bridge while standing there and they just rattled and shook the wedges out of it.”
The increased semi-traffic is a major concern and is happening because the Indiana Department of Transportation has closed a portion of U.S. 6 to replace a culvert. The highway was closed on July 10th and is expected to be closed until early September.
While the official detour is State Road 23, State Road 4, and U.S. 31, some semi-drivers are driving down U.S. 6 as far as they can and then going on 2B Road, so they don’t have to travel so far out of their way.
On Monday Highway Superintendent Jason Peters told the commissioner he has an engineer coming from USI to look at the bridge on 2B Road because of the increased semi-truck traffic and his concern that the additional traffic will cause damage to the bridge, thus shortening its life expectancy.
Commissioner Klotz spoke to Sheriff Matt Hassel about additional patrolling in the area but with only 3 officers on duty he couldn’t commit one to slow down or stop the unwanted semis on county roads. The sheriff was in favor of having the county pay off-duty officer to patrol the area.
Klotz said a ticket for violating the county’s no truck policy is $250 and writing just a few of those tickets should cause a reduction in the number of semis traveling on county roadways. It was noted that the ticket fees could be receipted back into the General Fund to assist with paying for the additional patrols.
Commissioner Klotz will appear before the County Council on Thursday to discuss the issue and determine how the officers could be paid for the additional patrols.
