Truck prohibitions currently in place on streets downtown and near the Port of Wilmington are being applied to more roads in town, including the entirety of Market Street within the city’s corporate limits.
At their meeting last week, members of the area’s Transportation Advisory Committee—the governing board of the Wilmington Metropolitan Planning Organization—endorsed a request from the N.C. Department of Transportation to add “No through truck” restrictions on Market and other roads, including Third, 16th and 17th streets generally north of Wooster Street.
The restrictions prohibit trucks from using the roads as throughways. Trucks with destinations along those roads could still use them, but drivers would be encouraged to use the shortest route possible, explained Mike Kozlosky, executive director of the Wilmington MPO.
“It’s about time,” said Bill Sisson, a Wrightsville Beach alderman. “This has been long overdue.”
Laura Padgett, the committee’s chairwoman and a member of Wilmington City Council, said she has waited for years for these latest restrictions.
“At long last,” she said, “the DOT has looked at some of these streets in Wilmington and decided to improve signage, educate drivers,” to restrict streets that were not designed to handle tractor-trailers and other truck traffic.
Currently, restrictions are in effect downtown—along Water, Front and Second streets and cross streets north of Market—and on some roads near the Port of Wilmington, such as Northern, Central and Southern boulevards in Sunset Park, and Burnett Boulevard between Third and Shipyard Boulevard.
With the proposal, prohibitions would be added to the following: (See map below)
- Market Street between Third and Military Cutoff Road;
- South Third between Market and Wooster Street;
- 16th Street between Grace Street and Market, and from Market to Wooster;
- 17th Street between Princess Place Drive and Market, and from Market to Wooster;
- Princess Place Drive between 17th and 23rd Street;
- Grace Street between 16th and 17th streets.
Approval is required from Wilmington City Council and DOT before the new restrictions would take effect. Signage would be placed to alert drivers to the restrictions, but some committee members asked whether more outreach would be needed to let drivers know about the new rules.
Joe Breault, a Belville commissioner, said he hoped a grace period would be considered. “I just don’t want some poor trucker to be penalized for an honest mistake,” he said.
Kozlosky said trucks are encouraged to use certain routes, such as the Wilmington Bypass and the Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway. Sisson also said drivers are typically well aware of routes they need to take.
“If they want to go to the state ports, it’s pretty plain where they need to go,” Sisson said. “In point of fact, they should already be using these truck routes.”
Jonathan Spiers can be reached at (910) 772-6313 or jonathan.s@portcitydaily.com. On Twitter: @jrspiers
