Kentucky police increase efforts to deter commercial vehicles from traveling on non-permitted roads

Police in Kentucky are cracking down on commercial vehicles using secondary roads to navigate through the state.

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and the Kentucky State Police Division of Commercial Vehicle Enforcement are ramping up efforts to deter semis from using roads where commercial vehicles are prohibited.

Kyle Poat, Chief District Engineer at KYTC’s Paducah office, said that commercial vehicles using rural secondary roads as shortcuts to cross the state is a common occurrence.

“This is a recurring issue as drivers try to save on time and fuel,” Poat told Kentucky Today. “But our rural secondary roads were not built for regular through-travel by vehicles of such size and weight.”

Poat added that rural highways like state Route 286 – which crosses southern Ballard County and forms a cut-through between Wickliffe and Paducah – is an example of the issue.

According to Poat, there have been 119 crashes, including 40 injury crashes and five fatality crashes, along a 16-mile stretch of Route 286 over the past three years. Of those crashes, about 30 involved a commercial vehicle. Poat added that of the 24 most recent crashes on Route 286, nearly half involved commercial trucks.

Despite “NO TRUCK” signs being installed at each end of Route 286 and at state highway intersections, drivers have regularly ignored them. KSP said it has increased patrols along Route 286 and has issued numerous citations to drivers who failed to heed the warnings.

“The signs will help with enforcement efforts as additional cases come up in district court,” CVE Officer Mark Townsend said. “The legal responsibility falls on the CDL-carrying professional driver. The driver is required to follow a route that keeps the truck on the National Truck Network.”

KSP said truckers can avoid the restricted section of state highway by following U.S. Highway 60. LL

Find more trucking news at LandLine.media.