TOLEDO, Ohio — After a tanker truck flipped on Saturday, spilling 1,500 gallons of gasoline on Washington Street and causing parts of the area to be shut down for over a day, some neighborhood residents said it was just part of a bigger problem.
Richard Rideout and his wife have lived in downtown Toledo for more than 20 years. He owns a building near the spill and witnessed the tanker flip from above.
He said speeding and the number of large vehicles passing through have gotten worse in more recent years. Rideout believed it was bound to happen and said that it could have been worse.
"It's got to be considered and observed that it's bad happening," Rideout said. "And to prevent something like this (spill) or worse from happening again, it has to be addressed."
He said he would like added signage to the streets to alert semitrailers and large vehicles to other routes. Rideout believes that things like more stop signs, speed bumps and additional parking could help.
"We get talk, but there's never really any action to get something done to calm the traffic down," he said.
Catherine Schrein is vice president of the Toledo Warehouse District Association and lives blocks away. She said she has almost been hit by drivers three times while walking.
"Health, safety and the economics of the city all rely on its walkability, and I really want to see this improved," Schrein said.
The city of Toledo's deputy director of public utilities, Douglas Stephens, spoke to WTOL 11 about signage in downtown Toledo and specifically whether large semitrailers can drive through "no thru truck" roads.
Stephens said that while it's legal, it's discouraged and semitrailer drivers are not supposed to make it a main route.
Nearby businesses like The Blarney Irish Pub have seen more problems than just commercial vehicles. It's things like speeding, too. The Blarney's manager Bill Kline said he sees it out the window every day as cars try to avoid getting stopped by the traffic lights.
"When the lights are all green going from Summit Street on down the way to Monroe Street, people are just speeding up to catch them all," Kline said.
Kline said he witnessed one of his own employees get hit and that the solution is more than just adding more traffic lights. Kline believed speed limits need to be better enforced and said many drivers don't even know that it's 25 mph in most parts of downtown Toledo.
Stephens said the city of Toledo is still working toward its "Vision Zero" plan to reduce all traffic fatalities by 2031 and he said there are also plans to put more median islands downtown as well.
He said the city is still working on funding and that there is no exact timeline for the projects.