More dump trucks through Granite Falls could mean longer time at the stop sign

Traffic in Granite Falls could increase with the coming and going of dump trucks from the gravel pits off of Mountain Loop Highway. With traffic already in snarls and backed up during the weekday commutes in the community of Granite Falls, how will another 60 trucks a day up and down State Route 92 affect the already congested roads?
That was a question which a concerned citizen of Granite Falls asked when he heard of a proposed addition of 60 trucks on its main road.

“There may be up to 100 commercial dump trucks driving through downtown Granite Falls,” he said.

Currently the city allows 40 of these large trucks to drive in-and-out of downtown to make their runs. According to the citizen, it’s believed that the city of Granite Falls charges a tonnage fee for the trucks that use its roads and the additional trucks would mean more money for the city.

Over the past several years, plans had been made to make an alternative bypass route for these trucks to avoid traffic backups in town, but the bypass, when complete, may take away from some of the revenue generated with the tonnage fee the city charges.

“You already have a lot of people making a stink about all these trucks that come through downtown, but even with the bypass they still have to come through town.”

The citizen went on to say that he has nothing against allowing the trucks to use the road because it generates money for the city; however, he said that they are skeptical about the bypass.

“I don’t know what’s going on with the truck bypass and personally I’m a little skeptical because I see plunging revenues and priorities are going to have to be set, but I think it’s a pretty ambitious proposal.”

He added that some of the concerns may be the wildlife, but says that that really doesn’t pull much weight.

“You can point out wetlands, and they’ll pencil it in, but it’s a question of whether you get a 100 foot buffer or maybe more; and all that wildlife stuff is worth raising, but the planning and development services and counties are not known for being real hard on protecting wildlife.”

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