January 5, 2005

Town's coal truck problems return

Haulage-road designation overrides town weight limits, bringing back the mess

By Tom Searls
Staff writer

Five years ago, residents of Chesapeake thought they had solved their dirt and grime problem by purchasing a set of vehicle scales.

Overweight coal trucks — many carrying loads as large as 165,000 pounds — suddenly bypassed the 2-mile-long town stretching along the Kanawha River. The town could finally enforce the 65,000-pound weight limit on its main street.

City workers shoveled coal dirt and rubble from MacCorkle Avenue, and residents’ vehicles and residences remained clean.

“The place got cleaned up in about two months,” said Mayor Damron Bradshaw. “It looked real good.”

Then, to prevent the super-overweight coal trucks, the Legislature passed a law allowing coal-hauling trucks to legally carry up to 120,000 pounds on coal haulage roads. W.Va. 61 in Chesapeake was named part of the coal haulage system.

Now the trucks are again rolling through the Kanawha County town of about 1,800 people, sludge sits along the side of the main street, and residents say they can’t keep their cars clean for even a day.

“The whole town’s hot about this,” said Jack Spradling, a resident for more than 50 years.

Bradshaw says between 300 and 400 coal trucks now drive through the town in a single day. And they create two problems, as the mayor sees it.

One is the dirt and dust, especially now that coal tipples are operating on both ends of town. The trucks are sprayed off to get rid of loose dirt that could be counted as part of the weight, but that causes trucks to drip mud and grunge. On warm, dry days, Bradshaw said, the dry dust spreads even farther.

Residents also fear health problems for an elderly population breathing in that dust. “I’ve been here 38 years and it’s the worst ever,” said Chesapeake resident Randall Boyd.

The company is willing to spray off the main street, but only during business hours while traffic causes mud. Bradshaw wants it done in the early-morning hours.

“I’ve got a black [Ford] Expedition, and you can imagine what it’s like to keep it clean,” Spradling complained.

The other problem the mayor sees is having the large trucks on the skinny road causing damage.

He wants the state to allow the heavy trucks to divert to the interstate, but federal law allows only up to 80,000 pounds on interstate highways.

Five years ago, state officials simply turned their heads when the trucks diverted around Chesapeake’s scales. “They ran 160,000 pounds [on the Turnpike] and no one said a word,” Bradshaw noted.

He’d like to put them back on that road, but state officials are clear that federal law limits those weights. “Interstate routes we can’t do anything about,” said Norman Roush, deputy secretary of the state Department of Transportation.

Bradshaw believes the trucks should be cited for crossing the Fields Creek bridge on W.Va. 61 at the town’s eastern entrance. But Roush said that bridge is safe to carry the heavy loads.

The mayor has pictures of state weight-limit signs posted at the bridge, limiting vehicles to 49 tons. He notes those signs were put up on two separate occasions, but had a short life.

Roush contends the Fields Creek bridge meets safety standards for the super-large trucks, but another W.Va. 61 bridge — labeled by locals as the “humpback” bridge — is the real concern. It is located about 200 yards before the bridge into town and was built to cross over the railroad when the Turnpike was first constructed in the early 1950s.

That bridge is rated to hold only 37 tons, or 74,000 pounds, for a six-axle truck, Roush said. On Tuesday, fully loaded coal trucks cruised over both spans.

“It’s sort of like doing 70 mph in a 50-mph zone,” Roush said. “Yes, it’s illegal, but only if you get caught is it illegal.”

Weight enforcers with the state Public Service Commission have probably spent more time trying to enforce the coal haulage road laws on W.Va. 61 than any other, said Frank Crabtree, who heads that PSC division.

“We don’t have enough people to sit at every bridge in the state,” he said.

The division has 60 weight enforcement officers for the entire state. Crabtree said they are aware of Chesapeake and are “monitoring it closely.”

Bradshaw, with a cadre of residents adding support, has begun contacting the news media, state and federal lawmakers and looking for private help. If all else fails, he promises a court battle and has initiated contact with residents of Sylvester in Boone County, which previously fought a successful legal battle with a coal company.

“We’re not going to take it anymore,” said resident Joe Jarrell.

To contact staff writer Tom Searls, use e-mail or call 348-5192.