SOUTH BLOOMFIELD, Ohio — Mayor Aaron Thomas says he is pushing state and county officials to pay closer attention to a stretch of U.S. 23 he considers increasingly overloaded, after an unplanned lunch meeting with an Ohio Department of Transportation official grew into a broader push for a sit-down among regional leaders.
Thomas said in a post to the village’s Facebook page that ODOT District 6 Deputy Director Mr. Turowski reached out and offered to meet with him recently. The two discussed traffic problems facing U.S. 23 both in South Bloomfield and throughout Pickaway County, Thomas said, though the conversation also touched on the corridor more broadly, from Interstate 270 south.
Thomas said current estimates put traffic on the portion of U.S. 23 running through South Bloomfield at roughly 42,000 vehicles a day, a figure he said keeps climbing as growth continues throughout the region and commuter and commercial truck traffic between Columbus and communities to the south increases.
The mayor said the meeting comes as a larger study of the U.S. 23/Interstate 73 corridor, stretching from Toledo to Portsmouth, is underway and expected to be released by the end of the year. Thomas said the effort is being championed by U.S. Rep. Dave Taylor, and he wants to make sure South Bloomfield and Pickaway County are part of that larger conversation rather than “an afterthought.”
Among his top priorities, Thomas said, is the intersection of U.S. 23 and State Route 752 at the Sheetz gas station, which he called the worst in the village. State Route 752 is also a route used by students, parents and school buses traveling to and from Teays Valley High School, he said.
Thomas said he, the village marshal and the village administrator have been working to organize a larger meeting in South Bloomfield involving the Pickaway County commissioners, the Pickaway County engineer, the Pickaway County Emergency Management Agency, the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office, the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Circleville post, the mayor of Circleville and ODOT District 6. He said he also hopes to include state Rep. Brian Stewart and state Sen. Michele Reynolds.
“I cannot guarantee what will come out of a meeting like this, and I do not want anyone thinking changes are right around the corner,” Thomas said. “What I can say is that somebody has to keep pushing the issue, and I am willing to do that.”
Thomas cautioned that any future construction on the corridor would come with disruptions for residents and commuters, and that he could not promise work would happen only overnight because ODOT must follow rules limiting nighttime noise near residential neighborhoods. Still, he said he would push for as much nighttime work as reasonably possible if projects move forward.
“I cannot guarantee anything will be fixed immediately,” Thomas said. “What I can do is keep pushing, keep asking questions, and keep trying to get the right people together. Sometimes getting something accomplished starts with simply getting everyone in the same room and getting them to agree there is a problem.”
The information contained in this story was obtained from a Facebook post by the Village of South Bloomfield.
