Ohio Seeking to Get Heavy Trucks Back on Turnpike

hio transportation officials said they were expecting the Federal Highway Administration to decide soon whether to fund a study that could help get heavy trucks back onto the state’s turnpike and off secondary highways.

Since Ohio raised turnpike tolls 85% in 1995 to pay for an extra lane in each direction on much of the turnpike, small towns along the highway report having seen more truck traffic while the state’s percentage of revenue from commercial trucks has dropped.

The turnpike runs from south of Youngstown near the Pennsylvania border, westward to Cleveland and past Toledo before exiting to Indiana. There it becomes part of Interstate 90 — one of the major cross-country truck routes stretching from Boston to Seattle.

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