BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Union County commissioners discussed some possible solutions to their ongoing dilemma of large trucks damaging county roads.
Commissioners Donna Jackson and Willie Croft had previously complained about log trucks making wide turns on County roads, damaging shoulders, and eventually compromising the pavement.
Complaints from Providence
In a prior meeting, Commissioner Mac Johns brought to the commission a petition signed by several Providence homeowners complaining about trucks damaging neighborhood streets.
The complaints arose from one of a group of businesses lined up on State Road 238, which include Thomas Hardware, Farm and Lumber, the now vacant Providence Food Mart, Southland Wood and Steel, Allsteel Welding and Repair, and Faithway Powder Coating.
The petitioners claimed that trucks delivering goods to Southland Wood and Steel exit the business through the back, onto Southwest 86th Street, and then make their way back to State Road 238 by either Southwest 45th Court, passing the Providence Community Center, or on Southwest 48th Avenue.
During the commission’s June 16 meeting, Johns, who represents the area, said the damage to the local roads may not be apparent now.
“But what’s happening is these 48-foot trailers are coming out, they cannot make that turn and stay on the pavement on either end, by the community center where they come back beside the church and the community center, or if they come out (on the other side)… So…you’re seeing a good six to seven, almost 10-foot cut right there on that corner where the back tires of the trailer are coming off the pavement. Well, first thing that’s going to happen is the shoulder of that road’s going to start falling.”
County Attorney Russ Wade said that even if the trucks stayed on the asphalt, the local streets were not designed to handle large trucks.
Parker Hodgson, a member of the family that owns Southland Wood and Steel, told commissioners that loaded trucks enter the business from the state road and then exit through the back empty. He added that it is impossible for the trucks to turn around on the property and leave onto State Road 238.
If you break it, you fix it
Wade proposed an aggressive stand against the damaging vehicles.
“That’s our road,” he told commissioners. “It’s our ditch, it’s our boundary line there. If we want a fence across that, (if) we want to dig a ditch across that, it’s not their land.”
Wade added that local roads are not built to standard to accommodate 18-wheelers.
The county attorney added that he had researched how other jurisdictions addressed the issue.
“The simplest thing you could do would be what Wakulla County did, which is to just put an ordinance in place that says basically if you break it, you fix it,” Wade said. “And I don’t even know if that ordinance is honestly necessary. It’s the only county I found that actually drafted an ordinance.”
Wade said that even without an ordinance, the county could sue truck owners for road damage.
“That’s just negligence,” he told commissioners. “I mean, if they are negligent and overload the road, causing damage to the road, then we can sue them anyway. If they’re improperly loading and offloading equipment and it’s scratching up and scarring up, damaging things, or driving over your weight, then we don’t even need an ordinance. An ordinance would make it even easier in some ways so that you can go to different levels with this.”
Paying in advance
Wade said that a large county between Orlando and Tampa has the most stringent commercial truck regulations.
“Polk County has a provision for permitting,” he said. “If you’re going to drive an overweight limit, then you have to obtain a permit. You have to pay in advance.”
The lawyer said the Polk County solution requires additional personnel and expertise, which would be difficult for a fiscally restrained county like Union.
County Coordinator Jimmy Williams said he would meet with county officials and business owners to propose a solution.
