Supervisor Van Foster called for two rural Yazoo County roads to be given speed and weight limits to curtail the abuse coming from a gravel company.
During the recent Yazoo County Board of Supervisors meeting, Foster said Hammett Gravel Company is using roads within his district to haul gravel from Warren County into Madison County.
“I have been having some problems with Hammett Gravel hauling gravel in Warren County through Yazoo County going to Madison County,” Foster said. “All we are getting is abused roads, destructive roads and scaring the dickens out of residents. We are not getting any revenue what-so-ever either.”
Foster said the gravel company is also abusing the weight limitations on the Yazoo County roads.
“They are loading out there at Hammett at 81,000 pounds when our roads are designed for 57,000,” Foster said. “You can imagine what those gravel trucks are doing to our roads. Not only are they hauling gravel out of the pit in Warren County, but they are back-hauling sand and stockpiling it down there that I was told was going straight to Madison County for a contract in Ridgeland.”
Foster said he reached out to Willie Huff, enforcement director with the Mississippi Department of Transportation, about what could be done to deter the speeding and weight violations from the gravel trucks.
“He said all we need to do is put some speed limit signs down there on Phoenix Road and Mechanicsburg Road and put a weight limit sign coming inside Yazoo County,” Foster said. “He said ‘we don’t issue warnings; we write citations.’ And it will open their eyes to abide by the law and not scare the residents into the grass and give them heart attacks.”
The speed limit for Phoenix Road was set at 35 miles per hour, with Mechanicsburg Road at 45 miles per hour.
