Madison County neighborhood’s trucker troubles
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MADISON COUNTY, Tenn. — Some residents in northeast Madison County want to reroute tractor-trailers from barreling through their neighborhood, as big rig drivers mistakenly use their road trying to get to the Gerdau steel mill. “The end of this road is blocked off and they turn around, and when they turn around they cause damage to property,” neighborhood resident Geoff Grigg said. Truckers should use a route off North Highland Avenue to get to Gerdau, but some navigation systems direct the unwanted traffic right through their neighborhood and down a dead-end road. “The GPS takes them down Ashport and right through our subdivision,” neighborhood resident Janet Tignor told WBBJ Monday. Tignor said her property has been damaged numerous times, including this past December when a truck caused $2,000 worth of damage to her yard. The county said they have taken steps to try to solve the problem, going as far as putting up signs stating there is no access to the steel plant through the neighborhood streets. Those who live here say the trucks are still a problem. “The truck drivers don’t read the signs,” Tignor said. “They actually read them, because if I do catch one, I’ll say ‘did you see the signs telling you not to come back here’ and they’ll say ‘yeah, we saw the signs, but I’m following my GPS.'” The county said they’re working to fix the GPS problem. “The county has gone to great lengths and tried to reach out to some of these mapping companies to try to get it corrected on these GPS systems,” said Traci Carney, county commissioner for District 9. Carney said they’re willing to work the neighborhood to continue to address the problem.
