The Cole County Department of Public Works will be installing commercial vehicle weight limit signs Thursday on Tanner Bridge Road and Tanner Bridge Spur as well Osage Front Street and Osage Elm Street in the Osage City areas.
The County Commission approved the weight limits in October after several people in the areas had signed petitions asking the commission to make the changes.
Public works officials said the signage will limit the weight of vehicles to 20,000 pounds or less and specifically target vehicles using the roadways as a pass through. There will be exceptions to the regulation allowing trucks to serve residents and businesses along the roadways for items such as deliveries, construction work and trash pickup. Exceptions will also be made for emergency vehicles, and road maintenance vehicles and equipment.
“In recent years, there has been a heavy increase in tractor trailer traffic using Tanner Bridge Road as a bypass route around Wardsville south toward Route B,” Cole County Public Works Director Eric Landwehr said in a news release. “This particular stretch of roadway is an old pavement that is very narrow. Tractor trailer traffic unfamiliar with the road is causing safety hazards for residents in the area as well as causing premature pavement failure issues.
“Additionally, roads in the Osage City area are incorrectly being used by tractor trailers to access the Jefferson City Correctional Center,” he said. “Tractor trailers cannot navigate the curves and often run off the road and get stuck trying to back up. This results in damage to the road and right-of-way, causing increased maintenance work for the county.”
Violation of the commercial weight limit can lead to fines up $500 and imprisonment in the county jail for a period up to three months, or both.