Truckers using the Norfolk Southern Railway John Whitaker Intermodal Facility in Austell were criticized during the March 4 meeting of the Austell City Council by some of the city’s residents.
Among the critics were former Austell Councilman Bo Traylor and his wife Diann and Harold and Jean Martin, speaking of the truckers traveling down narrow subdivision streets, through yards and even knocking down a power pole that left their community without power for five hours.
A school bus driver, Traylor said he has seen truckers driving onto the property of Garrett Middle School which was one of the conditions prohibited by the City Council when the intermodal facility was approved by the Council.
Traylor suggested the Council members might consider passing a law requiring the truckers to use commercial GPS systems that would keep them out of their neighborhoods when trying to find shortcuts to the intermodal facility.
While various city officials said they have not heard of such an ordinance, Austell City Attorney Scott Kimbrough said he did not see why it could not be implemented by the Council.
While signage is posted around the city, Mayor Pro Tem Ollie Clemons acknowledged the truckers “are tearing things up.”
Clemons added, “If we capture some and ticket them, that should reverberate through the trucking community. Maybe the intermodal facility will get out the message to them.”
Costing $100 million when it opened in 2001 off U.S. 278 at 6000 Dr Luke Glenn Garrett Jr. Memorial Highway, the intermodal facility on 450 acres helps Norfolk Southern Railway serve the ports of Charleston, Savannah, Miami and Jacksonville.
