Fines have totaled $86,575

Charging a $25 fee for trucks leaving the designated route in Portland didn’t seem to be enough of a deterrent. 

Considering the two highway construction projects in 2023, Portland officials decided to increase that fine substantially.

Portland police stopped hundreds of semis that left the designated detour during the six-month period last year in which major projects shut down Indiana 26 and U.S. 27 through the city. Fines have generated $86,575, not including court costs, as of Thursday, with more still on the way.

From the end of June through December, police cited more than 360 truck drivers for the ordinance violation, issuing more than double the amount of tickets written in 2015 during the less than seven-month street, water and sewer construction work along Water Street (Indiana 26).

“It was quite an influx of citations. Our officers were busy all three shifts writing tickets, redirecting traffic,” said newly appointed Portland police chief Dustin Mock, who worked as a patrol officer during that time.

Former Portland City Council member Janet Powers suggested raising the fine by a significant amount in April. She referenced the amount of citations written during construction on the Indiana 67 bridge on the north side of Redkey in 2022. During the projects, she noted there would essentially be one way in and one way out of Portland for semi drivers.

“I live on a side street, and I didn’t want a Walmart truck coming down my street,” she explained this week. “(I didn’t want them) cutting the corners where little kids ride their bikes and everything. I thought we needed to put some teeth in it to deter them from doing it.”

Council agreed in April to increase the ordinance violation fee for first offenses to $275 — 11 times the original amount. (Additional violations would incur a $500 fine plus court costs.) 

That meant tickets came to approximately $415 — court costs accounted for an additional $139.50 — for each first-time offender. (Only one driver was charged with a second offense.)

More than 300 tickets have been paid for the ordinance violations as of Thursday. (Some of the fines aren’t due until February.) Those dollars have been or will be transferred to Portland’s general fund.

A chunk of the revenue has been appropriated to the police department. Council approved a request in December from former police chief Steve Schlechty to utilize $36,990 of those dollars to purchase two used Ford Explorers for the police department.

While it’s ultimately up to council to decide how to allocate the rest of the funds, Mock confirmed he’ll likely make some financial requests this year for the police department.

“There are a lot of projects that need to be done,” said Mock. “I’m sure we will be before council one or two or three times before the end of the year.”

Despite the fines, off the truck route traffic kept officers busy at all hours. It also led to street and property damage across the city. (Replacing a stop sign alone costs more than $200, not including labor.)

“It took a lot of manpower hours to get these trucks where they needed to go,” said Mock. “A lot of the trucks caused private property damage to yards, street signs. And it was just, it was just a big mess. A big traffic problem.”

In late June, construction started on the replacement of the Indiana 26 (Water Street) “big blue bridge” over the Salamonie River on the eastern edge of Portland. The detour took trucks along U.S. 27, Indiana 67 and Ohio 49.

In August, installation of a new storm sewer line began along parts of Meridian Street (U.S. 27). Its detour directed truck traffic to Indiana 67, Indiana 1 and Indiana 28.

Instead of utilizing state highways for detours, truckers often attempted to forge their own paths through the city, said Mock. Several truck drivers turned down side streets such as Main, Commerce and Arch headed eastbound in order to get into Ohio.

“They pretty much would route around (U.S.) 27 anyway they could to avoid taking the detour route,” Mock said.

“We had a lot of them just going through the barricades entirely on (U.S.) 27, where they shouldn’t have been,” added Mock, noting semi drivers also found themselves stuck after heading down Water Street near the bridge project.

Since the highways have reopened, off the truck route traffic has deceased significantly. That may change when U.S. 27 closes later this year for INDOT’s paving project, said Mock.

Although the fines ended up bringing in a significant dollar amount, Powers said, her main concern when she suggested increasing the rate had been about safety. The ordinance holds semi drivers accountable to follow the designated routes, she noted.

“Some people thought I was attacking the local farmers and semis, and that wasn’t the intent at all. Local people know how to get around it,” she said. “Honestly, in my opinion, it was about getting the side streets as safe as we can, because people walk, we’ve got these golf carts, bicycles, you know, all kinds of smaller stuff … some streets are so tight the cars are parked on both sides of the road. There’s just no reason for a semi to go down most of those.”