Mark Knows It All

One of the anecdotal indicators of the economy is traffic. If traffic in the Mahoning Valley acts as a local barometer, things must be booming around here. I remember when Route 11 was first constructed. You could shoot a canon up the freeway and hit nothing. It was a consolation prize for Kirwin’s Ditch (the lake to river canal), and for many years it seemed the canal would actually have more traffic!!! Now it's packed. Bumper to bumper during rush hours between Columbiana and Mahoning Avenue; and from 680 to Route 82, it is extremely busy pretty much any time of the day. Have you driven to Akron on I-76 lately? Where are all of those people going? It’s not only car traffic. There are lots and lots of trucks. It seems like every day I am passing an oversized load with an interesting piece of heavy equipment tethered to its flat bed. I suspect that most of it is headed to the new Vand M pipe mill and other related Marcellus Gas Shale endeavors. Some of this stuff is mammoth.  It