The fo9llowing is a copy of a letter that Adams County resident Steve Boehme sent to the Ohio Department of Transportation concerning plans for the 247/32 intersection and Tranquility Pike.
We live on Old State Route 32 between Tranquility and Peebles, so our primary route to points west includes Tranquility Pike. We have an active landscape business with large trucks and trailers, and the majority of our customers are west of us, so we’re often traveling in convoy with as many as three trucks with trailers. We also receive deliveries of mulch and other supplies which arrive by semi, often via the same route. Our trucks regularly travel on State Route 247 to and from West Union, Cherry Fork and other points south, using Tranquility Pike. Our mulch supplier uses that same route except that, since he delivers by semi, he travels through Seaman to access State Route 770 instead of using Tranquility Pike. We do this as well, when our trucks and trailers are heavily loaded, to bypass the hairpin turn and railroad crossing on Tranquility Pike.
The closure of access to Tranquility Pike will force us to detour through Seaman constantly. Why can’t there just be a left turn lane on eastbound State Route 32 at Tranquility Pike? More prominent signage to alert motorists about cross traffic? I imagine that Baxla Tractor and their customers are justifiably unhappy about making their new facility so tedious to access. Making Burnt Cabin Road into a truck thoroughfare, with a very sharp turn for northbound traffic from 247, seems nonsensical. If we were forced to navigate the U-turn intersection onto northbound 247, we wouldn’t be inclined to use Burnt Cabin Road to access Tranquility Pike. Instead we would travel through the Seaman business district to State Route 770, and then follow 770 through a residential neighborhood out of town. What’s the point of having a four-lane highway to bypass small towns, and then forcing traffic onto residential streets?
Once Tranquility Pike is blocked, the real inconvenience will be the convoluted intersection planned for State Route 247, requiring U-turns for through traffic on 247 in both directions, and constant trips through the Seaman business district. Wouldn’t the cost of this mess be better spent on left turn lanes, better signals with sensors and left turn arrows? The intersection at State Route 32 and State Route 41 at Peebles is set up that way and works just fine, and handles more north-south traffic. Requiring motorists (including semi trucks) to make U-turns just to proceed straight on a state highway seems very cumbersome. It’s hard to imagine how this would reduce accidents or improve traffic flow.
Comments on this proposal can be submitted via the project website, email, phone, or mail until July 30:
Tom Barnitz, P.E.
650 Eastern Avenue, Chillicothe, Ohio 43601
(740) 774-8877