SNOW HILL – The Worcester County Commissioners agreed to prohibit trucks on several Pocomoke roads in response to concerns from residents.
The commissioners on Tuesday voted 6-1 to prohibit truck traffic on Cypress Road, New Bridge Road, Hillman Road, Tulls Corner Road and Old Virginia Road. The decision essentially reverses one made by the commissioners in November.
“This was something worth trying,” said Commissioner Josh Nordstrom. “I know the people who have trucking companies for a living are happy that we did this but my constituents are not. It’s a bit of a mea culpa for me but it did give me a greater understanding of what that truck traffic would look like and how people would react.”
In 2020, at the suggestion of Nordstrom, the commissioners approved a resolution permitting thru truck traffic on several roads in the Pocomoke area. He asked public works staff to review traffic on the roads last month, however, after hearing concerns from residents in the area. Public Works Director Dallas Baker told the commissioners Tuesday his department recommended reinstating previous prohibitions on thru trucks on Cypress Road, New Bridge Road, Hillman Road, Tulls Corner Road, Dun Swamp Road and Old Virginia Road.
Nordstrom spoke in support of the change.
“The truck traffic is much more than we anticipated…,” he said. “I’ve had multiple calls every week about this. People are having to drive on the shoulders. If you go and you take a look there are tire tracks, dead grass on the shoulders of all of these roads from people who are having to move over. Now in some places that might be okay but you’ve got a lot of steep embankments. You’ve got ditches that are very close to the road. I was personally almost run off the road on Old Virginia Road …”
Commissioner Ted Elder said he didn’t want to see trucks prohibited on Old Virginia Road and Dun Swamp Road.
“If the road is too narrow, I think we need to do something about that and get them in shape, what they should be,” he said.
He added that one of the local trucking companies was based on Dun Swamp Road.
“It would make it illegal to pull his trucks out of his own lot,” he said.
Elder added if trucks were prohibited on those roads they’d instead take other roads, such as the beltway past several schools. He also brought up the issue of economic development.
“Pocomoke is our most depressed area,” he said. “This is going to throw a monkey wrench into economic development processes we have there.”
Nordstrom said he was willing to eliminate the proposed prohibition on Dun Swamp Road and the commissioners voted 6-1, with Elder opposed, to approve the truck route changes.
