News

City opposes truck restrictions on Berkeley Road

By Lightning Reports, Published: April 5, 2019

Trying to stop big rigs from using Signal Hill and Berkeley roads to dodge the I-26 weigh station might redirect tractor-trailers and garbage trucks through downtown Hendersonville, City Council members said Thursday night before they voted unanimously to oppose the proposal to restrict heavy truck traffic on those roads.

The Henderson County Board of Commissioners has for weeks been grappling with a problem that residents have brought to the board's attention. Tractor-trailers use Four Seasons Boulevard, Thompson Street, Signal Hill Road, Berkeley Road and Asheville Highway to avoid the weight station, residents say, creating a hazard on narrow winding roads not designed for such traffic.

"The council voted 5-0 to oppose any restriction of truck traffic on Berkeley Road and Signal Hill Road from the fact that there needs to be an alternative to put that traffic from the county transfer station through the middle of downtown," City Manager John Connet said. The council instead endorsed improvements to Berkeley and Signal Hill roads and to the Signal Hill Road and Thompson Street intersection, adding that to make that route off-limits to heavy trucks "would put undue pressure on an already stressed road system downtown," Connet said.

The Board of Commissioners has also expressed reservations about the idea of restricting heavy trucks on those roads through Hendersonville. Commissioners also mentioned fire trucks and local truck traffic like garbage haulers using those roads to reach an emergency or because they are trying to avoid driving through town on U.S. 64.