“No Trucks” sign on Prairie Avenue, Eutaw, AL

Recently, Eutaw Mayor Raymond Steele ordered that signs reading “No Trucks” be installed on O’Neal Street and Prairie Avenue.

The mayor indicated that signs are being reinstalled. They were removed during construction on the railroad crossing on  Prairie Avenue.

Steele explained that Prairie Avenue and O’Neal Street in Eutaw are not truck routes. All through-trucks are required to use designated truck routes in the city. This does not apply to trucks that are delivering to or picking up from local businesses. Such trucks may leave truck routes to conduct business.

“As with all roads restricted from truck traffic, local deliveries and pick-ups are allowed as exceptions,” said Steele.

The mayor said, “City officers, notably Sgt. Beck, have complained from time to time that when the Department of Public Safety sets up scales in the area east of the railway bridge on AL 14, trucks will re-route themselves along Prairie Avenue to avoid being weighed. The signs that were formerly in place along this route were removed during construction of the railway bridge a couple of years ago.

“Signs were ordered at the request of Chief Derick Coleman and the first one has been installed. Additional signs to be placed at the northern and southern ends of Prairie Avenue  been ordered to replace the signs removed. In short, these are not new signs but merely signs replacing those removed during the construction process,” emphasized Mayor Steele.

Steele said, “The City of Eutaw has a number of ordinances that regulate the flow of truck traffic through the city.”

These ordinances include:

82-31 – “In order to regulate traffic, the city shall erect traffic regulatory signs on such streets, alleys, public parking areas and intersections as may be deemed advisable by the Chief of Police. Such regulatory signs shall include, but are not limited to, … .truck traffic.

82-131-134 – These sections designate the truck routes through the City of Eutaw for the following highways: US 11, US 43, and AL 14 and the means by which trucks may change from one route to another.

The mayor stated, “All of these provisions have been in effect since at least 1976 and are allowed pursuant to 32-1-3, Code of Alabama, 1975.”

The mayor also explained that the “No Trucks” signs currently on Prairie Avenue and O’Neal Street apply to heavy trucks on city streets, not to regular pick-up trucks. The “No Trucks” signs do not indicate a weight because a weight limit is not posted on the streets and there are no bridges involved. The city streets in question are not intended for heavy trucks.

The Mayor concluded that state roads that traverse through a city/town are regulated by the state, such as State Hwy. 14/Boligee Street in Eutaw.