Monday, September 17, 2018

Trucks in downtown Newport
Because of ongoing construction on East Broadway, it is illegal for tractor-trailer rigs to travel through downtown Newport. But since construction began two months ago, six rigs have become stuck as they attempted to cross the railroad tracks on Main Street. When that occurs, traffic on Main Street is blocked as well as Norfolk-Southern trains. Newport Chief of Police Maurice Shults says the problem is that truckers choose to follow their GPS instead of the numerous signs on I-40 and Highway 25/70 in the city which direct rig operators to detour routes. "When we question them they say they saw the signs but their GPS directed them through downtown," says Chief Shults. Most of the truck traffic is associated with the Conagra plant on East Broadway. The Chief says the firm has sent out numerous emails to its trucking firms detailing the detour, but some truckers ignore the warning. When a rig becomes mired on the tracks, which are higher than the roadway, there is a cost for a wrecker to lift the rig off the tracks. In addition, the trucker is cited into court for either a weight limit violation or Failure to Follow Street Markers. A citation totals a cost of $129 in fines and court costs.


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