No Big Rigs, State Rules

MORRISVILLE, Pa. -- It’s not gators, brown bears or cheese wagons causing the problem, say local authorities, it’s the countless wiggle wagons and heavy haulers at full bore discharging raucous sounds as they refuse to back out of it.

And to turn around the decades-long issue, officials have banned big rigs and heavy tri-axle trucks from driving through a residential neighborhood on South Pennsylvania Avenue in Morrisville, Bucks County.

Since the late 1980s, residents in The Manor neighborhood have complained not about gators (tire pieces and other mess) on the roadway or the presence of delivery trucks and yellow school buses, but about loud traffic noise, pollution and speeding by heavy vehicles on the two-lane street that heads toward an industrial area.

“Trucks ought not to be taking Pennsylvania Avenue,” said state Sen. Steve Santarsiero, D-10, of Lower Makefield Township, during a recent conference announcing the road restrictions for trucks weighing more than 10 tons.

Added Francis J. Hanney, a state Transportation Department representative also at the meeting: “Due to the pavement structure, we are able to institute a truck prohibition from Philadelphia Avenue down through Falls Township for all vehicles over 10 tons.”

Residents in the effected neighborhood sought relief at several recent council meetings. They said they feared a worsening in light of the port-based trade center there, formerly the U.S. Steel Fairless Works, planning to expand warehouse space by 10 million square feet.

Hanney said PennDOT will post signs announcing the new restrictions.

“We have put in the orders for the signs,” he said. “We hope to have them fabricated and our crews will be doing the installation. We hope to have it done by Halloween, but we have full confidence it will be done by Thanksgiving.”

(10-4, Good Buddy. Tell me what you think.)

Big rigs have been banned on a Morrisville roadway.Photo byBernd 📷 DittrichonUnsplash