The safety study of the State Route 103 corridor area currently in process is encouraging.

CLICK HERE to read about the study.

CLICK HERE to open a comment sheet. We invite Icon viewers to take a moment and add own comments to this project. Comments must be delivered to the village office by Wednesday, Sept. 28.

Our thoughts about State Route 103.

We are happy for the growth on State Route 103. Prior to this development there were few jobs available for youth in Bluffton. This development changed that completely. It also opened additional employment for adults. The business development on 103 created a stopping point for Interstate travelers.

As an aside, the village needs to find ways to capture that stopping-point crowd to our downtown.

Sadly, this study should have taken place 15 or 20 years ago. Poor, little State Route 103, built for rural traffic into and out of Bluffton, never kept up with the increased traffic flow.

Today it is congested, has way too many exit and entrances from businesses and creates a poor impression of the community of Bluffton to outsiders.

We’d like to see the following in the State Route 103 corridor:

• curbs and sidewalks
• streetlights
• turning lane in the center of the two major traveled lanes
• a dedicated bike lane
• a plan to stop additional exist and entrances onto State Route 103

And, now is the time to also study State Route 103 on the east side of the interstate. There we hope to get a jump on potential business growth. Let’s fix the east side problem before it becomes like the current corridor study side.

To do that we encourage the Orange Township trustees to create a zoning ordinance. That could allow planned growth. We also encourage the Ohio Department of Transportation to look closely at the east side of the interstate now so that Bluffton’s growth takes place in a more orderly fashion.

This study is extremely important. We hope it creates a friendly, attractive and safe entrance to Bluffton, with planned orderly grow in mind.