Road will not lead to satisfaction

One thing is certain: It won’t be possible to satisfy everyone.

Jay County Commissioners have agreed to revisit the county’s restrictions of heavy truck traffic on rural roads.

And that makes sense.

The county started limiting truck traffic back around 1994 or 1995, but by now the list of restricted roads has grown significantly, enough that some farmers could be in violation of the ordinance if they make the wrong turn when headed to the county seat.

At the same time, a number of other roads — as yet to be determined — have been posted “No trucks” without any official ordinance to back that up.

Clearly, the whole issue is due for a review.

But that may be the only thing that’s clear.

For instance, well-meaning folks disagree on whether county ordinance restricts all truck traffic or just that traffic going from one end of a restricted route to another. County attorney Bill Hinkle said Monday it’s the former rather than the latter. But at least one former county commissioner — Ed Nixon — was confident that it was the other way around.

The authority under state law that gives the county the right to restrict truck traffic rests on the fact that big trucks can deteriorate rural roads not built for such heavy loads.

But, over time, some of the restrictions imposed by the county appear to have been based on other factors such as safety. And while safety concerns are important, it’s not entirely clear the county has the authority to base restrictions on that alone.

From the outset, this has been a confusing and contentious issue.

For instance, the first restrictions appear to have been imposed to control traffic from out of state — Ohio — to Jay County Landfill. But when county road 400 South from U.S. 27 to Indiana 67 was restricted for truck traffic, that sent trash trucks north on U.S. 27 through downtown Portland. Surely that was not the intended consequence.

Competing facts are true:

•Farmers need to get their crops to market, especially those taking corn to POET Biorefining.

•Some routes — county road 200 South is the prime but not only example — are heavily populated enough that truck traffic raises serious safety concerns.

•Many of the county’s rural roads and bridges weren’t designed and built for today’s truck traffic.

•Some routes should undeniably be restricted; grain trucks from Randolph County using county road 250 West from the county line up to POET should use state highways instead.

All those things — and more — are true.

That’s what makes it so difficult to sort out.

And that’s why it is virtually guaranteed that not everyone will be happy with the outcome. — J.R.