New standards may soon be imposed on truckers hauling goods through Jones County. The Jones County Board of Supervisors took no final action at their meeting in Ellisville Monday about establishing new guidelines for heavy equipment (truckers) crossing county roadways, but they had a protracted discussion about permit requirements for haulers after County Administrator Danielle Ashley conveyed to them some information she had collected from other counties, specifically Covington and Perry counties. As part of the permit process, the supervisors could in the near future be determining if they want to set load ratings on county roads that haulers traverse.
According to Ashley, some counties require a bond or liability insurance, and new requirements could necessitate that haulers take “before and after” photos of a roadway to demonstrate if notable damage was caused to the roadway due to their use of it. The new standards, if adopted in the future, would affect haulers from several industries, including timber, poultry and oilfield.
“Different counties have different processes for regulating heavy equipment on county roads,” she began. “It’s completely within the board’s authority to do that.
“Some counties require that a (hauler) that is in excess of the weight that the board would allow post a bond to protect the roads, and the board could recover in that way. Some counties make them provide liability insurance,” she continued. “Obviously you would advise people using your roads to take before and after pictures, and the county could take pictures too, so that there’s no question as to the damage and who did the damage.”
The supervisors discussed the damage the heavy trucks cause, including busted roads and the dispersement of lots of mud on the roadways that sometimes produce damage to passenger vehicles.
Beat 1 Supervisor Johnny Burnett, the board president, acknowledged that there was an issue, but he cautioned about moving too fast to implement new standards.
“This is a serious thing that we need to look deeper into,” he stated. “We certainly don’t want to hurt the industries.”
Beat 4 Supervisor David Scruggs concurred, but he indicated that he was not in favor of a long delay before some changes in the permitting process are considered.
“We can table it now, but we’re going to bring it back up,” said Scruggs.
New permit standards could require that haulers disclose, among other things, the weight, length, make of truck, and route to be taken through the county. The county would have to give a minimum three-week public notice before demanding adherence to new standards.