February 8, 2005

Chesapeake residents turn out for meeting on coal truck traffic

By Rick Steelhammer
Staff writer

Congressional action to exempt part of the West Virginia Turnpike from federal weight limits and a “sub-zero tolerance” policy to halt violations by coal truck operators surfaced Monday as possible ways to deal with Chesapeake’s coal truck problems.

Nearly 100 townspeople crammed into Chesapeake City Hall on Monday night to discuss ways to solve the Kanawha River community’s problems with about 400 coal trucks that travel through town each day to a pair of barge terminals at either end of town. The public meeting on the town’s coal truck woes preceded a City Council meeting.

Five years ago, after the town bought a set of scales and began enforcing a 65,000 pound weight on W.Va. 61, truckers took the hint and bypassed the town by traveling the Turnpike and getting to the terminals without entering the town.

But that changed last year, when the state Legislature designated a network of highways to be used by coal haulers carrying loads up to 126,000 pounds. Chesapeake’s segment of W.Va. 61 was included in the network, but the West Virginia Turnpike, where federal regulations forbid loads of more than 80,000 pounds, was not.

“All those trucks coming through town create a lot of dust and dirt,” said Mayor Damron Bradshaw. “The washers at the tipples at either end of town cause a slurry to go onto the road, and you can’t avoid it if you’re driving here.

“Houses and cars a block and a half away from MacCorkle get dirty. ... We don’t want to impede an industry or cause anyone to lose a job, but we want to find a way to keep those trucks out of our town.”

“We just remodeled our home,” said Chesapeake resident Cornelius Burnette. “Within two days, the new windows and siding were filthy. We have to sweep the sidewalk every couple of days. The whole town should file for black lung.”

Longtime resident Joe Jarrell said that since there are no coal mines in Chesapeake, and even the two tipples lie outside the city limits, “all our problems are coming from outside sources. They want to rub our noses in their dirt, but I think it’s time to stand up and fight”

Other residents complained about coal truckers violating the town’s speed limit, and halting traffic for extended periods of time to allow other haulers to enter and exit coal terminal access roads.

Ted Berry, a 45-year veteran coal trucker and director of a state coal haulers group, said W.Va. 61 provides the only legal route off Corridor G for coal trucked from the coalfields of Mingo and Logan counties to reach barge terminals on the Kanawha River.

Should load limits be raised on the Turnpike, “we’d have no problem moving back up there,” he said.

But Assistant Highways Commissioner Norm Roush said it would take an act of Congress, and the already planned upgrading of a pair of bridges, to allow heavier loads on the Turnpike.

“I don’t disagree that the Turnpike would be better” for carrying coal past Chesapeake to the Kanawha River terminals, Roush said. “We’ll help you if we can.”

Roush said the state of New Hampshire might be successful in getting weight limits on its segment of Interstate 94 raised to match those of neighboring Maine and Massachusetts, which could set a precedent.

Tom Hamm, aide to Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said the congresswoman is looking into a resolution that would let the federal Department of Transportation change the weight limit on a designated stretch of the Turnpike.

Delegate Danny Wells, D-Kanawha, said he would research possible legislative remedies. “It’s ridiculous that anyone has to live under the situation that was described here tonight,” he said.

“You tell us what you want, and we’ll put an end to this,” pledged Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper.

Carper said after the meeting that one solution might be a “sub-zero tolerance policy,” in which Kanawha County Sheriff’s deputies would patrol Chesapeake to ticket and fine trucks found to be speeding, overweight or spreading dust or slurry.

“We’re not going to find the solution to everything tonight,” said Bradshaw. “But I think we will get this problem taken care of, eventually.”

To contact staff writer Rick Steelhammer, use e-mail or call 348-5169.