We received a call last Tuesday morning from Greer Industries, Inc., a non-WVTA member,  regarding a vote to be taken in Morgantown at City Council that evening regarding an ordinance that would regulate truck traffic in downtown Morgantown.  The ordinance passed with a vote of 6 – 1.  The call, of course, was too late for us to get involved in the vote on Tuesday.  As a general rule we cannot watch every city council and we depend on members to notify us of actions in which we need to get involved.

We are working on this issue.  We do not like the precedence that it sets.  This is a State highway – a route that trucks take to get through Morgantown.  WVTA is working on this with DOH as well as getting guidance from the American Trucking Associations (ATA).  DOH has advised the Council that they should not do this.

Click here for a Dominion Post article on this issue. This article includes this statement: ”According to Morgantown City Manager Jeff Mikorski, this was expressed to him during a recent meeting with top DOH officials. Morgantown has no more authority to ban heavy truck traffic from State roads in its downtown business district today than it did in 2006 when the West Virginia Division of Highways (DOH) denied similar efforts by the city.”

Metro News also covered this issue here.