The Associated Press

TOLEDO - Ohio Turnpike leaders want to find out how they can bring more trucks back to the toll road and get the big rigs off secondary routes.

The turnpike commission proposed a study to examine ways to persuade more truckers to use the freeway.

Small towns along the highway that crosses northern Ohio have been faced with increased truck traffic since higher tolls were put in place to pay for an extra lane in each direction on much of the route.

"Right now, we have trucks blasting through neighborhoods and rural areas that never expected them," said state Sen. Teresa Fedor, a Toledo Democrat.

The percentage of revenue from commercial trucks has dropped since the turnpike commission approved an 82 percent toll increase in 1995. Last year, commercial trucks accounted for 56 percent of the turnpike's toll revenue, down from 62 percent in 1994.

For big trucks that most often use the turnpike, the toll is $42.45 to cross the state. The tolls, which went into full effect in 1999, may be one area the study will examine.

The turnpike commission has asked the Federal Highway Administration to cover 80 percent of the cost of the $250,000 study, Gary Suhadolnik, the turnpike's executive director, said Tuesday.

If the federal government doesn't pay for the study, the state should find a way to pay for it, said state Sen. Jeffry Armbruster, a North Ridgeville Republican who is a member of the turnpike oversight committee.

Armbruster is concerned that overweight trucks are using an exit just before the first toll booth in western Ohio to avoid not only the fees but also the toll-plaza truck scales, he said.

But Bobby Everhart, a turnpike traffic consultant with a private company, said the volume of trucks using that exit is dwarfed by the number that travel U.S. 20 to avoid paying tolls.

Citing a 1998 state trucking study, Everhart said that as much as 60 percent of cross-state trucking in northern Ohio bypasses the turnpike in favor of other roads.

Mile-long traffic jams are routine on U.S. 20, which runs parallel to the turnpike and cuts through Bellevue. More than 600 trucks pass through each hour on average, a city survey in 2000 found.

Some businesses have closed while the ones that remain are losing customers because of all the traffic.

Truck traffic overall on Ohio roads increased by 42 percent in the 1990s and is expected to keep climbing, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation.