WARNING: NO TRAILERS OVER 30 FEET

What will it take to stop tractor trailers traveling down a dangerous stretch of Macon County highway?

That’s a question Highlands residents, community leaders, the N.C. Highway Patrol and the Department of Transportation have yet to find an answer.

Despite legislation, warning signs, a $500,000 turnaround in Franklin and countless police escorts, commercial vehicles coming up and down Cullasaja Gorge is still a battle North Carolina Highway Patrol and N.C. Department of Transportation are fighting.

It’s an issue that leaves both departments saying they have done all they can do.

It’s an issue that plagued Highlands even on Monday, as a vehicle accident was reported because of a tractor trailer coming up U.S. 64 through the gorge.

 

Looking at the numbers

According to available NCDOT crash data from Jan. 1, 2020 to Oct. 31, 2021, six crashes were reported, totaling $13,700 worth of damage.

Two of the crashes resulted in injuries. Two vehicles damaged were passenger cars, two were pickups, one was a single unit truck and one was a van.

In 2021, new signage in Highlands and Franklin went up, designating the new ordinance that a 30-foot tractor-trailer could not come up the Cullasaja Gorge. Still, that did not stop truck drivers from traveling the roads, with four of six crashes occurring in 2021.

In the most expensive crash, totaling $5,000 worth of damage, the commercial vehicle was reported traveling 35 mph.

For commercial vehicles on the Cullasaja Gorge, according to data from the Highlands Police Department, 33 citations were written from Jan. 1, 2021 to Feb. 10, 2022, with six drivers having two charges.

 

History of the issue

Since taking office, Highlands Mayor Patrick Taylor said he has been working with NCDOT to find a solution to the problem.

In the early years, Taylor said he worked with former Franklin Mayor Bob Scott and Macon County Commissioner Jim Tate in an attempt to get some changes.

“One of the first things we did was put up those flashing-radar signs,” Taylor said. “Those were not there a year ago. The idea there was maybe the truckers weren’t really seeing the signs. So the radar lights would come on with a certain size truck. That did not really help.”

Taylor said one of the main problems with the original signage was that it was very complicated for truckers to understand.

“With truckers coming down the road and reading, ‘Use Walnut Creek, blah, blah,’ they didn’t pay any attention to that,” Taylor said. “I worked with Steve Buchanan and Sgt. Dills about this and they all said that the ordinances were too complicated. Sargent Dills suggested that if it were a more straightforward prohibition, it’s easier for us to make a case in court. That is where the 30-foot trailer length comes from.”

In December 2018, Sgt. Gregg Dills with the North Carolina Motor Carrier Enforcement Division spent time in Highlands inspecting trucks traveling US64 for proper weight and size.

Dills stepped into his position in the Motor Carriers Enforcement Unit at the end of 2015, and he said since then, they have stepped up enforcement.

“We added the information station down at the bottom near Franklin and every truck is required to stop and pull in there by statutory law,” Dill said. “They pull in, read the signs, ignore the signs because Google Maps tells them the Gorge Road is the shortest way to go and they take off. Once they get into Walnut Creek, it becomes a violation of the ordinance. We recently, last summer, got that changed from the four-axle rule to the 30-foot trailer length, which puts things under a different general statute, which in turn creates a little higher fine. Through different federal grants, we are also able to put more patrols out there on the roads.”

Dills said there are hot spots like the Cullasaja Gorge in several other counties in Western North Carolina.

“We have these hot spots in Macon, Madison, Buncombe and Mitchell counties,” Dills said. “We have these small roads where commercial vehicles can’t pass through. Ninety-nine percent of the time, when we stop and ask these drivers why they are up here, they say that Google Maps told them to go up that way. They ignore all of the statutory laws and ordinances and follow Google Maps.”

Rep. Karl Gillespie was born and reared in Franklin and said he has always heard of commercial vehicle problems on the Gorge Road.

“We’ve known about the issue for many years,” Gillespie said. “At one point, there were conversations about actually building a new road from Highlands to Franklin. Fast forward several years to the DOT rewriting their ordinance to limit truck traffic. There has also been a considerable amount of signage put up.”

Problems in communication

According to those interviewed, the leading cause of concern is personal navigation systems.

If a truck driver uses a personal navigation system that is not as high grade as an industrial trucking navigation system, then the maps may not be updated.

When it comes to updating those maps, NCDOT state travel information engineer Kelly Wells said she is on the front lines trying to troubleshoot and convey the road restrictions to several different companies.

“My work with the NCDOT is that I am in traveler information, which means when people have problems, they come to me and because I know a lot of people in the industry, I will often try to troubleshoot and try to figure out if everybody has the same, correct information,” Wells said. “Truck navigation is very challenging. We are pretty good about car navigation. We know the companies that do it and I have contacts with Apple, Google and Waze, and if I see a problem, I can reach out. But with trucks, it is very difficult. It is really hard to see which vendors sell things to trucks. What happens when I hear of a problem is I try to call a company, like in this case Omnitracs, but when you get these companies, salespeople talk to you, and they can’t answer your questions.”

Wells said that companies like Omnitracs do not have their own maps. They buy their mapping software from “big map companies.”

“If I could get to the people at Omnitracs, then we could probably get this nailed down,” Wells said. “I have called at least 10 or 20 times. What I’m trying to figure out is where do they get their base map? That is the first thing I need to know. On top of the base map, they layer restrictions. My goal is to figure out who Omnitracs uses for that because they probably don’t do it themselves. If I can figure that out, then I can solve it once at the root cause, then all the people that use that product will get the best information.”

In December 2021, the same situation came up again. A commercial vehicle was stuck on the Gorge Road, but this time a resident climbed up into the cabin to confront the driver and find out why he was taking that route.

What the resident learned from the driver and the dispatcher of the truck was that the truck was with Core-Mark and that they used Omnitracs navigation. According to a social media post from the resident, the dispatcher and truck driver said both Omnitracs and Google Maps showed that the road was open to trucks.

According to a spokesperson at Solera, the company that owns Omnitracs, the route in question is marked as restricted on their navigation system.

“At Solera, we believe that commercial navigation tools are vital for truck drivers to be able to travel roads as safely and efficiently as possible,” the spokesperson said. “Omnitracs offers a variety of tools to guide truck driver navigation, which would indicate to drivers whether certain routes are restricted for the type of vehicle being driven. We investigated your question with regard to whether Omnitracs tools would identify that the route in question was restricted and can report that they do. However, Omnitracs is not at liberty to provide you with information regarding the specific tools used by our customers and their drivers. The safety of communities as well as drivers is always top of mind for Solera as we look to broaden the reach of our commercial navigation products.”

Buchanan said personal navigation systems are not designed with truck information restrictions in mind.

“Any person driving a truck should have a commercial GPS that is designed around commercial traffic,” Buchanan said. “Oftentimes, the Highway Patrol sees that that is not what they are using. HERE Maps has the restriction on their end, Traffic Cast has it, and the latest one that the Mayor shared with us was Omnitracs. Maps that show where our restrictions are are open to these companies on our website. It’s not hidden.”

Taylor said a lot of the confusion is coming from dispatchers.

“A lot of times, a truck driver is given a route, and then the dispatcher will tell them to go this way,” Taylor said. “They are not going to vary from that route because a lot of them feel as though they will get fired or get in trouble for doing that. Trying to get a system where all the trucking companies and all of their software says that this road is off limits is a challenge and is a little above my paygrade, but I think they don’t all use Google. They use several different navigation systems.”

Highlands Police Chief Andrea Holland and Code Enforcement Officer Leah McCall said they deal with truck drivers firsthand, who use personal navigation systems, and follow orders of what their dispatchers are telling them.

“Some of the drivers that we stop say they didn’t see the signs, but they are using their phones as a GPS. So, they can see their phones, but not the signs,” Holland said. “I had one guy stop at the turnaround in Franklin, and then he said he just decided to come up anyway.”

“I have had several trucks that come up, and I stop them, then the next week I get another truck from the same company,” McCall said. “Every time I stop them, I tell them to go back and tell their company that this route cannot be used. You would think they would listen.”

Gillespie agreed with Taylor that he heard that one of the issues was that the dispatchers were telling trucks to go up the road.

“I think there were efforts made to get the word out that this road was prohibited,” Gillespie said.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration told The Highlander on Feb. 8 tractor trailer drivers should use GPS made for trucks.

“We have something on our website on mapping systems,” A spokesperson with the FMCSA said. “Without selecting a manufacturer, it says to use GPS made for trucks. We do not regulate how a motor carrier employee dispatches; the driver is responsible for the vehicle and traffic laws of the jurisdiction.”

Punishments for driving the road

Several residents have voiced their concerns, questioning why fines aren’t increased to make companies liable for travel on the road.

According to Chief Holland, the police department can’t control the fines. Holland said right now, the penalties are more than $200.

“That is a legislature thing,” Holland said. “We have discretion, but basically, if you are on that road in a commercial vehicle, you are going to get a ticket.”

Dills said many trucking companies  pay the fines for the drivers, which isn’t a deterrent, but it could hurt the trucking company in compliance, safety and accountability scores.

“If you are trying to get a 53-foot trailer up that road, you are looking at about $380 in fines to the driver,” Dills said. “When you’ve got a rig that is worth thousands of dollars going in there, that $380 isn’t that big of a deal. In the long run, it can and will affect the compliance, safety and accountability score, which the higher that score gets, the higher their insurance premiums go. If you are a smaller company, that is really effective, but when you are one of those larger companies with hundreds of trucks in your fleet, a couple more hundred dollars a year isn’t going to hurt you.”

The FMCSA told The Highlander last week that the driver is legally responsible for these situations in the vast majority, if not all, cases.

 

How a local commercial company navigates mountain roads

Bryson Grading has a fleet of several different sized trucks, including tractor-trailers, tri-axle, single-axle and dump trailer. According to Ryan Bryson, the company rarely tries to drive the narrow roads of the Cullasaja Gorge.

“We have tri-axle dump trucks that are definitely not as big as a tractor-trailer, but we sometimes, very rarely, have to take those down the Cullasaja Gorge,” Bryson said. “That is only if we have a delivery in between Highlands and Franklin. Those trucks will go usually go down through Buck Creek or go down through Dillard.”

Most of the time, Bryson said his trucks go up and down through Dillard, on N.C. 106, because it is safer.

“N.C. 106 is a lot safer for us, just for our drivers and for other cars, as well,” Bryson said. “The tractor-trailers always go down Dillard Road. They don’t fit on the other road.”

For all drivers with Bryson Grading, they must to be CDL certified.

“The dump trucks take a B License and the tractor-trailers take an A License,” Bryson said. “But all of our drivers have the appropriate license for our trucks. The first requirement before I hire a driver is to make them drive to my office to make sure they are comfortable driving on these roads. Nobody really wants to be on that road in a truck. It’s just not comfortable. Everybody on our team lives locally. So, we are aware of where we are going. We don’t usually have to tell them not to go down that road, but if somebody is new from out of town, then we tell them not to go down the gorge.”

Since his trucks do go down Hwy. 106 for the majority of their travel, Bryson said some updates could help the safety of all drivers on that specific roadway.

“There could be some work done on the shoulders of 106,” Bryson said. “I actually lost a dump truck in September because it got off on what should have been a shoulder, but there was none there. It wouldn’t hurt and I feel like it would be good, if that is the way that we are going to tell trucks to come in. I’ve seen trucks turned over because they got on the shoulder and it could use a little widening.”

 

The future of commercial vehicles on the Gorge Road

As for what is in the future for commercial vehicles on the Gorge Road, Dills thinks there is nothing else the Highway Patrol can do.

“It all comes down to common sense,” Dills said. “When you read the signs, it’s all right there in front of you. If you choose to go, it is what it is from that point. We’ve run a good cooperative with Highlands P.D., because for every truck that goes up there, it doesn’t take but a second for them to get 10 feet past Walnut Creek and somebody is calling about it. They all get caught. Either Highlands P.D. will catch them on their end or we will catch them down on our end. A new road to incorporate N.C. 106 and Georgia Road 246 is ultimately the best plan to fix this. As everyone sees, Highlands is growing, and people are buying more stuff, which requires more trucks to go up there. Granted, it’s going to take 10 years to build a new road, but it’s just kind of where we are at.”

Gillespie said a lot of conversations have taken place with Mayor Taylor, but his office has not been contacted.

“There has certainly been a lot of conversations between the Mayor of Highlands and DOT, but my office has not been involved in that,” Gillespie said. “We have not been asked to engage in those conversations. We certainly would be glad to, but we haven’t been asked to yet.”

Gillespie said if his office was asked to help, the first thing he would do would be to get with his legislative attorneys to get an opinion on what he can do.

“My first question would be what is currently in place that’s not being enforced?” Gillespie said. “That is always my first question before we have additional legislation. Is there already legislation in place for what we need and do we need to look at how we can better enforce those current laws?”

Taylor said that a lot of people have complained they don’t like the trucks coming up to Highlands and his response is, “But you like all of the stuff that is brought and that is the only way it is going to be done.”

“I was at a southwestern commission meeting a couple of years ago and the director of trucking for the DOT was giving a speech and he said that there were 240,000 people in Western North Carolina, and that means there are going to be 240,000 tracor trailers coming,” Taylor said. “For one resident that lives here full time, it takes about a tractor-trailer full of goods. Food, building materials, gasoline, add all that up and that’s a lot.”

Since Taylor is the chairman of the Southwestern Planning and Advisory Board for the NCDOT, he said people often ask him why he can’t do more. He explained that all his committee can do is advise.

“We are an advisory committee, and you are dealing with North Carolina DOT,” Taylor said. “I’m just a mayor of a small municipality. DOT has their own budget, they do their own things and to be quite frank, when I hear that I should be doing more on the Gorge Road, the city limits stop and once they stop, it is not in my priority. We’ve got state roads in this town like everywhere. If you talk to the state, they’ll say that they are the sovereign agency over those roads and they will do what they want to do.”

For the residents who say they are afraid to go down the Gorge Road, Taylor suggests utilizing N.C. 106 or Buck Creek.

“Buck Creek could be kind of a safety valve, especially if some improvements were being made to it,” Taylor said. “Probably the best thing to do is to get with the dispatchers and give them all of the correct information saying U.S. 64 in the gorge is an impassable road.”

By Christopher Lugo