County leaders are frustrated with 18-wheelers and other large trucks with no permits damaging roads throughout the county. Following a lengthy discussion, the county board has placed a heavy fine on violators who travel down no-truck routes without the required permit.
The Board of Supervisors approved a $1,000 fine on trucks caught traveling on no-truck routes without a permit.
“These little county roads are 40,000-to-50,000-pound roads,” said Road Manager Jim Warrington. “They are not made for 100,000-pound trucks. If you tear up a quarter-mile road, that is close to $100,000 to fix it.”
Supervisor David Berry sparked the discussion during the county meeting, airing his frustrations with 18-wheelers traveling down Old Highway 16 in the Benton area. The road, located behind the Highway 16 Shell station, was recently repaired with a $340,000 price tag.
“I live right there, and these trucks will not stop coming down the road,” Berry said. “I walked off my front porch this morning, and I saw one. My blood pressure went straight up. We have two big signs that say, ‘no trucks; strictly enforced.’ I have seen four 18-wheelers, back-to-back, come down before. I almost had a heart attack.”
Sheriff Jeremy McCoy said his deputies have been told to pull over any heavy trucks they find on no-truck routes. But with Old Highway 16, it comes down to catching them.”
“I have been out there several times, but I just can’t catch them in the act,” McCoy said.
Warrington said the state department of transportation is also low on manpower to enforce the no-truck routes.
“DOT mostly enforce the interstates,” Warrington said. “It would be on our local law enforcement. But if you adopt a fine and catch them, write them a ticket and take them to court.”
Warrington said another issue involves logging trucks operating without a permit. He added that even some logging operations with a permit will often take alternative routes other than what has been set by the county, thus damaging roads.
“Anybody who does any logging in Yazoo County has to come in and get a permit,” Warrington said. “We route them to try to keep them off our roads. But often, they are just trying to make it to the mill the fastest. We will shut them down if we catch them. We will stop the whole logging operation.”
Some of the county roads with major damage from heavy trucks include Graball Road, Ridge Road, Dark Corner Road, Carter Road and Johnson Road. But Warrington said there are many more.
“This is a problem all over the county,” he said. “We want our roads to be just as good as other counties. But to do that, we are going to have to put some rules in place.”
“I hate to give anybody a big fine, but it’s like they don’t respect our signs,” added Berry. “When that road tears up, we are not going to have enough money to fix it.”
The county board said a $1,000 fine will be imposed trucks traveling down no-truck routes unless a specific permit has been granted.
