Tenneco asks for help with speeders

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

If you travel along Fisher Ave. in Van Wert, especially during normal working hours – slow down.

During Monday night’s meeting of Van Wert City Council, Aaron Montgomery, EHS Manager at Tenneco shared his concerns about employee safety along the street, noting that vehicles sometimes come through well above the 25 mile per hour speed limit, which poses potential safety problems for workers crossing the street.

“We have a parking lot that houses probably half of employees throughout our three shifts – we operate 24 hours a day, five days a week – and so employees are constantly crossing the road non-stop throughout the day, 500 or 600 times a day and for whatever reason when people turn on that road they think it’s a drag strip,” Montgomery told council members. “People will go down that road at 50, 60 miles per hour and so we have concerns for our employees’ safety and well being just to come to work, leave work, go on break or to lunch.”

Montgomery there is a crosswalk that goes to Tenneco’s office, along with two other access points to the plant.

“We do have signage at that one singular crosswalk but nothing that really gives drivers a heads-up,” he noted. “What we’re hoping for is an elevated crosswalk in the middle, kind of like a glorified speed bump, that way drivers have to intentionally slow down. I don’t want to cause too much disruption but I just want people to slow down, that way our employees don’t feel like they need to dodge out of the way just to come to work.”

Safety-Service Director Jay Fleming said the city won’t install an elevated crosswalk or speed bumps, but would be willing to paint extra crosswalks, install more signs, move a speed trailer to the street and request increased enforcement on Fisher Ave.

Several other topics were addressed during the meeting, including progress on Leeson Ave. and a discussion about e-bikes. Check Wednesday’s News page for more information.