The City of Kosciusko is cracking down on heavy weight vehicles navigating city streets without making local deliveries. Though an ordinance prohibiting heavy weight vehicle traffic on certain city streets (no thru trucks) was put into place in Nov. 2021, freightliner truckers and other heavy vehicle drivers are still passing through the city streets — excluding Highways 12 and 35 — to make deliveries destined elsewhere.
But the ordinance does not only apply to drivers passing through Kosciusko from another town.
According to Mayor Tim Kyle, some local heavy truck drivers are still passing through city streets in their trucks as well.
“When this was written, I didn't think about people misunderstanding the verbiage,” said Kyle. “It says no thru trucks, but it means trucks that are only delivering downtown. We’ve got some local truckers here that think this doesn't pertain to them because they will say, ‘We’re not a thru truck.’”
Slight revisions were made to the ordinance discarding its original “no thru truck” language and removing the word “certain” in order to include all city streets. The ordinance applies to all drivers operating heavy vehicles. According to the ordinance, in the event such a vehicle causes damage to a street, drivers will be liable for all costs to repair said street, curbs, signs, etc.
The ordinance imposes a $1,000 fine on truckloads exceeding 26,001 pounds. Trucks also may not exceed three axles. Exceptions will be made for local deliveries, emergencies, school buses, municipal services, and contractors working in the city.
In other municipalities throughout the state, “no thru truck” ordinances set weight limits as low as 10,000 pounds. Kyle said the city does not want to punish local truck drivers making their daily routes to and from work, so the ordinance’s weight limit was set at 26,001 pounds — permitting local couriers the ability to “bobtail” home in their truck without an attached trailer. However, this does not give local drivers permission to park their heavy trucks on city streets.
“A lot of those guys can come in, drop their trailers, and come home. They may come in at two or three o'clock in the morning. I don’t want their spouse to have to get up in the morning to come get them or something, so this gave them the opportunity to do that,” said Kyle. “We’ve got a few in town that think this doesn’t pertain to them and are still bringing heavy trucks on city streets.”
The mayor said streets, sidewalks, and signs have been damaged due to these heavy truckloads navigating city streets and making sharp turns.
“A fifty-three-foot trailer turned at a stop sign one day last week and just squeezed through,” said Kyle. “He went down the hill and then went across the square — apparently the wrong way. He came out on the parking lot on the hillside of First Baptist Church, and instead of going to the street, he cut through the parking lot and just ran over all the sidewalk.”
Kyle said he wanted to put more signs up that had the fines listed on them so drivers could be more aware, but after consulting with MDOT, the mayor was advised to leave the current signs in place and further enforce the ordinance’s policy.
“I don't want these local guys to get tickets,” said Kyle, “but they have got to understand too that we don't want the streets torn up either.”
