May 21, 2024
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Sandwich City Council considering designated truck routes to curb street damage

By Eric Schelkopf
The Sandwich City Council is looking into whether to designate certain roads within the city as truck routes to reduce damage to streets not made to withstand truck traffic as well as to keep trucks out of residential neighborhoods.

The Sandwich City Council is looking into whether to designate certain roads within the city as truck routes to reduce damage to streets not made to withstand truck traffic as well as to keep trucks out of residential neighborhoods. (File photo)

The Sandwich City Council is considering whether the city should designate certain roads as truck routes to reduce damage to streets not made to withstand truck traffic, as well as to keep such vehicles out of residential neighborhoods.

The issue was discussed briefly at Monday’s City Council meeting. Council members are reviewing a list of roads that are proposed to be designated as truck routes.

School buses or garbage trucks would be exempt from having to use the truck routes. The drivers of vehicles making local deliveries, such as postal or express delivery vehicles, also would be exempt, along with construction vehicles working on local construction projects.

As proposed, these are the roads that would be designated as truck routes. City Council members will look at the list of proposed truck routes to see if any need to be added or subtracted, Sandwich City Administrator Geoff Penman said.

  • Church Street (Route 34) – from Plano to Somonauk.
  • Duvick Avenue – Church to 6th streets.
  • 6th Street – from Duvick to Reimann Avenue.
  • Reimann Avenue – between 3rd and 6th streets.
  • 3rd Street – between Latham Street and Reimann Avenue.
  • Latham Street – Pratt Road to Church Street.
  • Center Street – Fairwinds Boulevard to Green Street.
  • Fairwinds Boulevard – from Church to Center streets.
  • 2nd Street – Main Street to North Wolfe.
  • Main Street – 2nd Street to County Line Road.

Sandwich Police Chief Kevin Senne said during the meeting that an online service called Oxcart Permits allows truck owners to apply for and pay for truck permits, taking that administrative burden off municipalities.

“It does not cost the city a dime,” he said. “It is free to the city. There is an administrative fee that Oxcart charges the trucking company, and they then give that fee right to the city. It’s also a really good way to monitor and know what is running on our roads should there be some damage. We may be able to link back and find out if that’s the company that damaged the road and be able to look into that.”

Penman said there have been situations where the city needed to issue an overweight permit for a truck.

“And it’s an annual process,” he said. “This is more of an automatic process so that we could then establish truck routes for transportation companies to know how we want them to come through our community. … We’re much more interested in compliance than penalties.”