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Crooks residents urge wider traffic study, warn of road wear and safety risks
Summary
Residents demanded a 5–10 mile traffic study and raised safety concerns at a crash-prone intersection, while city planners described corridor, interchange and updated traffic models that could include signals or a roundabout and an overpass option.
Residents at the Crooks meeting urged officials to broaden traffic modeling beyond the interstate interchange, saying trucks and employee vehicles will use county and township roads and could accelerate road damage and crash risk in the area.
"This traffic study needs to be 5 to 10 miles in this area," said a resident noting trucks and employee cars would likely use local routes to avoid the interstate. Multiple attendees named specific local intersections with prior serious crashes and pushed for protections for older residents and children.
City planning staff described a series of studies already in place: a corridor study done in 2021, an interchange study studied in 2024, and an update now in progress that incorporates Smithfield’s operational data. Planners said those updates add signalization options or roundabouts and mention an overpass on Marion Road planned to carry trucks over railroad tracks. "Those improvements are signalization or a roundabout depending on what the design looks like," a planning staff member said.
Officials said conditional‑use permit conditions can require only site‑specific measures (landscaping, berms, buffers) and not broad off‑site road reconstruction; they said the DOT, county and townships will continue evaluating improvements and that interim measures are under discussion.
