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East Marlborough discusses truck ban
February 12, 2004
Tony Cadwalader
The Kennett Paper

East Marlborough Township officials were the latest to hear a pitch that would change the complexion of the region's roadways. They declined to make a commitment.

An ad-hoc citizens group continued its efforts to get area municipalities to ban long-haul through-trucking. The ad-hoc committee, called the Citizens Task Force, has released a report highlighting their findings that show a through-truck ban improves safety and quality of life and is not prohibited.

West Marlborough Township's Josh Taylor, who served on the task force, which studied possibility and legality of a long-haul truck ban, said such a ban was feasible and not without precedent. He called Route 41 dangerous and having one of the highest accident rates on the commonwealth. "There is a precedent: 118 segments of highway in Pennsylvania, 13 in Chester County, have bans enacted. We're here to convince you that this is a good thing to get behind," Taylor said.

According to Taylor state code allows prohibition because of the "compatibility of various types of traffic, accident history" ... "hazardous traffic or other safety conditions" ... "inadequate turning radii, horizontal width."

Specifically, the ban would apply only to trucks that originate and conclude their trips outside of the area, he said. It would not extend to trucks having business within the 30-municipality area.

The ban would apply to tractor-trailers and two- and three-axle trucks. The ban would extend to routes 41, 841, 896, 796, 82, 842, 10, 926 and Strasburg Road. The committee's primary concern throughout is safety, he said, not to hurt the trucking industry.

Section 67 Pa. Code 201.6(3) says: "Nothing in this section shall be construed as preventing any state or local government from imposing any reasonable restriction, based on safety considerations, on access to points of loading and unloading by any truck tractor-semi-trailer combination in which the semi-trailer has a length not to exceed 28 1/2 feet and which generally operates as part of a vehicle combination described ..."

However, East Marlborough supervisors were not in complete accord over the proposal. Robert Weer was concerned about how the long-haul truck ban would be enforced. Eddie Caudill also questioned how it would be enforced, but also whether truck drivers were to blame and asked what percentage of through-trucking is local. Chairman Richard P.S. "Buzz" Hannum said he was concerned about the economy and hurting the trucking industry and being un-neighborly.

Taylor though, believes the truck ban might actually assist the trucking firms by making them a little more competitive, and would boost the Port of Philadelphia over the Port of Wilmington.

Rikki Saunders, a former Londonderry Township supervisor and founder of Save, called the discussion last Monday night a kicking off point and said the proposal will probably need to be tweeked. Save is neither a sponsor nor a member of the ad-hoc committee, but supports a truck-ban in general terms and specific traffic calming improvements to Route 41.

However, East Marlborough stopped short of joining other area municipalities in adopting the resolution banning long-haul trucking. The vote would have been an expression of confidence toward the Save's efforts to improve safety on Route 41.

In October 2002 London Grove Township passed a resolution to impose restrictions on Route 41 and other area roads. At that time London Grove Township also invited other municipalities in the corridor to appoint representatives to a Task Force to review issues, including the feasibility and logistic of truck restrictions, enforcement, impact on community and business and to act as a liaison to their municipality. John Rittenhouse, the representative from Londonderry Township chaired the committee.

The municipalities that have passed the resolution are: London Grove, Londonderry, Pennsbury, West Marlborough, Highland and East Fallowfield townships, according to Taylor. The municipalities that have the resolution under consideration are: Pocopson, Penn, West Grove, East Bradford, East Marlborough, Atglen and New Garden. West Sadsbury is scheduled for initial presentation this week; and the following municipalities are likely to be scheduled soon: West Fallowfield, Franklin, Avondale, Kennett, Upper Oxford and perhaps several others.

©The Kennett Paper 2004