Waynesburg working to control heavy traffic through town
A convoy of trucks line High Street in downtown Waynesburg. (Photo by Samantha Karam)
Toth
Graphic shows the amount of truck traffic that moves through downtown Waynesburg.
Since the Marcellus shale gas boom in Waynesburg, truck traffic has increased extensively, and with the increased presence of the heavy-load vehicles has come safety concerns, officials there said.
Waynesburg Police Chief Rob Toth wants to do something about it.
Commercial (CDL) vehicles, like oil and gas carriers, busses, dump trucks and standard 18-wheelers can be seen, and heard, navigating through town at any given moment, officials said, it’s wreaking havoc on the borough that just wasn’t built to handle the industry.
According to a recent count performed by the Waynesburg Police Department, a truck or two is almost guaranteed to rumble by every minute down the town’s main drag during the work day.
“On May 18, a Friday, I had an intern stand in front of the police station (on High Street),” Toth said. “453 (CDL) trucks drove by between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m.”
That’s an average of 75.5 trucks per hour and 1.25 trucks per minute, respectively.
With that much big truck traffic, safety is the city’s number one concern.
According to Toth, there have been 53 accidents in Waynesburg this year, 16 of which involved CDLs. Last year there were 94 total accidents and 21 involved CDLs.
“We’re only half way through (the year),” Toth said. “These are things I want less of.”
To help facilitate safer truck passage, Waynesburg Police had two officers certified through the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP). They inspect the CDL trucks for safety violations, verify the truckers’ paperwork and weigh the trucks to make sure they meet all regulations.
“We’ve already addressed certain issues that we don’t see anymore,” Toth said, referring to a faulty pitman arm, which is a steering mechanism that, over time, rubs against and wears down the inner tire of a CDL vehicle, which, according to Pep Boys Auto Repair’s website, causes drifting or loss of turning ability.
While the MCSAP officers address several different truck safety violations, Toth said a common complaint is that the big trucks are speeding through town and running stop lights.
“We stop these trucks and pull them over,” Toth said. “Which slows them down.”
However, most of them don’t speed, he said. They are big and noisy, so most of the time they simply seem like they are speeding.
Waynesburg Mayor Brian Tanner said he’s also received noise complaints about the large amount of truck traffic.
“We are addressing it to the best of our capabilities. Everybody is doing what they can at this point,” Tanner said. “There’s not a fix to this (noise) problem.”
Tanner said the trucking companies have been receptive to his safety concerns. They provide good communication and are being proactive about making sure the trucks coming through the borough are respecting speed and traffic laws.
“All we can do is curb any violations, which we are doing through the police department,” Tanner said.
According to PennDOT and the Waynesburg street department, the heavy truck traffic has adversely affected the borough’s roads.
“Based on data included in a National Cooperative Highway Research Program report, the department has calculated that the pavement damage caused by one standard five-axle combination tractor trailer (a common CDL) weighing the legal limit of 80,000 pounds is equivalent to roughly 86,000 passenger cars,” said Valerie Peterson, the community relations coordinator for PennDOT.
“Right now, we keep putting down two layers (of scratch coat then top coat) to cover up (the damage),” said Bryan Cumberledge, the manager of Waynesburg’s street department. “That used to be okay, but now we have (too much) traffic.”
According to Cumberledge, the contractor heading the current repaving project on High Street said this latest repaving will only hold up for about a year and a half.
The frequent road repairs are putting a strain on the borough’s funds.
“We need to go down and fix the base to fix the problem, which we are only doing in spot areas where we know there are (major) problems,” Cumberledge said. “It’s not anyone’s fault, there’s only so much money to spend. We get some impact money to fix these things, but it’s not enough.”
Cumberledge’s team consists of four other staff members. He said they need more collaboration with the SPWA water company, People’s Gas company and PennDOT.
“We have a very good working relationship with the water and gas company and have worked with PennDOT on a few projects and that communication is getting better,” Cumberledge said. “Most of the roads that need the base repair because of the heavy trucks are state roads.”
Tanner said that the community can also help make the streets safer.
If a truck breaks a speed or traffic law, Tanner said, “Get the truck number and company, let police know or call the company directly. Most trucks have tiny cameras attached to the frontend, which the company can go back and watch to verify any grievances. Most companies have disciplinary processes.”
“They know they have to come through our town to get anywhere,” Toth said. “We are not here to stop industry or progress. We’re just trying to make the roads safer.”