To the editor:
Almost everyone in Kent County has noticed increased commercial traffic on Route 213, our major north-south artery.
While the Maryland State Highway Administration continues to work with communities to promote safety, we all face the dangerous possibility of Congressionally approved “super-trucks” on our roadways. These vehicles, longer and weighing up to 91,000 pounds, take much longer to stop and would impose a real burden on our aging roads and bridges.
Amendments attached to H.R. 8870, the BUILD America 250 Act, would tell Americans that much-needed funds to improve our infrastructure are contingent on allowing these heavier trucks.
I urge readers to do their own research and then contact our member of Congress and our Senators, urging them to pass a “clean” bill without amendments that permit these “super-trucks.”
Sheila Austrian
Ward One Councilmember
Town of Chestertown
One Response
Good ol’ Can’t County is alive and well. My guess is that that the “no” crowd will just blindly follow the leader as most always do. The kind of weight they are talking about is not uncommon. Trucks out west can weigh upwards of 100,000 pounds when configured properly. The same things will most likely be required in this case. Instead of 5 axles, they may require 6 or more to properly distribute the weight and add more sets of brakes. But even if they don’t, today’s trucks aren’t that same trucks your grandfather drove. Most today have disc brakes, better constructed frame rails, etc. As for Maryland roads and Kent county roads, that is a failure to maintain the road issue. At the rate Maryland taxes and hands out outrageous fees for tags and anything else the greedy supermajority feels they want to tax, there should be PLENTY of money to maintain and improve them. The fact that Maryland hands out money left and right to illegals, the lazy and any other politically correct NGO tells you Maryland HAS plenty of money, it’s just being spent on everything BUT what government is supposed to be spending it on. But hey, farming and truck driving are two of the last things the working class people can do to be able to afford to live in Kent County so you might as well run those businesses away too! That has been par for the course here in Kent and yet the residents can’t understand why we can’t get much better stores and services here along with younger families. The slow death continues…