Resident complains about trucks

Terri Cannon, a resident of Sadik Cove, complained to the board of supervisors about 18-wheelers getting stuck on Quinn Road with no place to turn around.

Sadik Cove is a short, dead-end street off Quinn Road in the Chickasaw Trail Industrial Park.

She said a trucker who she flagged down said his GPS told him to go down Quinn Road to get to the warehouse destination (Niagara Bottling on Wingo Road).

Cannon followed the trucker all the way to the Niagara facility to get information on how he had come down Quinn Road, only to find he could not access Wingo Road because of signs saying “No Trucks” all along Quinn.

“Quinn Road ought to be off limits to all trucks,” Cannon said.

She recommended a blinking yellow light be posted at Shelby and Highway 72 at Quinn Road from Collierville, Tenn., before it enters Marshall County.

“The signs we have are at the state line and at that point there is no turnaround,” Cannon said. “Their only choice is to keep going. Then when they get to Wingo Road and the sign there says “No Trucks,” and the GPS is wrong. There is no place for the trucker to turn around.

“So, the driver thinks he can make the block, but at this point there are only dead end residential streets. To keep going down Quinn, the 70-foot truck will have to make three hairpin curves to get to Goodman Road, not an easy feat.”

Cannon had taken video of a trucker she followed down to Goodman through those hairpin curves.

“He has to take both lanes making those curves,” she said, “and with corn fields in the middle, an oncoming driver could not see that truck coming.”

Many trucks have jackknifed trying to turn around before they enter the curves, Cannon said.

“We need blinking yellow lights there, too,” she said.

The result of one trucker getting stuck on Sadik Cove ended in disaster with the truck taking down two telephone poles and most of the wiring from everyone’s home, she said. It was a long, hot 90-plus degree, eighthour day before the power lines were put back up.

Cannon said anyone with any kind of medical equipment would have been out of luck that day. Nine of the 12 homes on Sadik Cove are occupied by senior citizens, she said.

Cannon said GPS needs to be updated, but supervisors have no control over that.

She said she has read that a trucking company and the driver can be fined up to $30,000.

“I feel like the trucking companies might spread the word themselves, if we have that type sign,” she said. “If nothing else is feasible, please put a yellow blinking sign at the end of Sadik Cove. That seems to be the first alternative after Wingo for them to get redirected.”

District 3 supervisor Keith Taylor said the sheriff has had deputies stationed in the area giving tickets, trying to get truckers to go the right way.

And county administrator Larry Hall put up flashing signs at Barringer Road and at Mt. Carmel Road to stop trucks from going the wrong route.

“They don’t have a place to turn around,” Taylor said. “I went to Collierville and met with the planner. David Cook addressed it with tickets and Justin Hall contacted plant managers urging them to give truckers defined routes.

“The truck driver is the person sort of innocent in this. We need a sign at state line and Quinn Road. So it needs to be fixed on the Tennessee side. Once they get to Wingo Road, they get lost. We are trying to figure out a way.”

“GPS is routing them that way,” said Larry Hall. “They are not looking at signs, I promise you.” Taylor said it is hard for truckers to make the turn at Quinn Road on the Tennessee side.

“It has slacked off a bit,” Cannon said. “I think that trucking company paid heavily for the wires it took down.”

Taylor said once Barringer Road is widened, a lot of the truck traffic problems will be solved.