Chesapeake restricts truck traffic on Elbow Road, increases taxi fares

Well well.. Here you go.. From the actual City Code:

Sec. 74-191. Trucks of one and one-half tons or over prohibited on certain streets; exceptions.
(a) Generally. The city manager is hereby authorized and directed to erect and maintain at proper places on the streets designated in the following subsections of this section, appropriate signs or markers indicating that motor trucks of a rated capacity of one and one-half tons and over shall not be driven or operated on such streets between the designated points. When such signs or markers are in place it shall be unlawful for any person to drive or operate any motor truck of a rated capacity of one and one-half tons and over on the streets designated in this section between the designated points, except for the purpose of receiving loads and making deliveries.

Then it lists all the streets that this applies to.

Ref: http://www.municode.co

Who do you think benefits from regulation of taxi fares? It isn't the public. It is the taxi companies, who use regulation by the State and cities to squelch competition.

If we really want to reduce the number of vehicles on our roads, then the first step is for the cities to get out of the way and allow anyone who can meet the requirements for a chauffeurs license to charge what the market will bear for transportation for willing customers.

If you want to see more ride sharing, then let the guy with a minivan make a buck or two carrying coworkers back and forth as he goes to work. The free market works miracles when it is free.

Hopefully the Viginia Pilot clarifies or corrects this statement. I really hope the city council did not mess this up too. There is a HUGE difference between a 1.5 ton capacity truck and a vehicle that weighs 1.5 tons. The article says all vehicles that weigh over 1.5 tons. According to this article I guess if you don't drive a Volkswagon Beetle or Honda Civic (or similar size) you can't use Elbow Road!

Hopefully all the people who don't understand what a 1.5 ton truck is will stay off of Elbow Road. Anyone with a dump truck, semi, box truck, truck with trailer, SUV, pickup, even a slow driving Prius, can find a new route.

It's easy to restrict certain vehicles that have a greater potential to get involved in accidents, the hard work is to permanatley fix the problem. We need a city council that will do the hard work. Reduce spending on non essential whimsical projects and start spending OUR money on strengthening OUR infrastructure. I find it ironic that our city which now has a AA+ standard & poors credit rating has bridges that only certain vehicles can travel over. This problem did not happen overnight, our local government has been mis appropriating taxpayer funds for years now. If we keep the same people in office, you can expect the same. I hope with a new mayor and two new council members the spending habits of our city will change.

http://svsm.org/gallery/Chevrolet-G7107-1-5-ton-truck/IMGP4755

That is a 1.5 ton truck. Not your 3000# F-150.

its carrying capacity not weight! sheeeesshhh

I guess most residents that live on Elbow Road won't be able to go home because their cars weigh more than 3,000 pounds. A 1995 F250, 2wd, reg cab, LB, 5.8L, no accessories weighs about 3750 lbs.. but it's GVWR is 9000lbs. A 2000 f-250 4-door with 7.3L Powerstroke 4x4 is about 7,300 lbs and most regular cab 3/4 tons are about 5,000 to 6,000 lbs.
I don't know who suggested the weight limit number but common sense suggests that it needs to be increased so the residents who live on Elbow Rd. can actually use it to get to their homes. Use your head besides a hat rack!!! Also, what consideration was given to school buses that common sense suggests it weighs more than 3,000 pounds? On the average, a 38', 84 passenger school bus weighs in between 11 & 14 Tons (22,000 to 28,000 pounds) curb weight without passengers, with 84 passengers can weigh approximately 42,700 pounds. I guess school buses receive and make deliveries, so common sense suggest they are exempt.

Good luck to all the kids that ride the school bus that live on Elbow Road. They will have a long walk to Centerville Turnpike to wait for the bus.

I hope they ban bicycles too.

As a long time Virginia Beach resident who uses this road on a weekly basis, I completely agree that large, commerical vehicles (dump trucks, semi's, etc.) should definitely be restricted on this very narrow winding road in both Chesapeake and Virginia Beach. It is far too dangerous and there are no shoulders to escape from any large vehicle which is too large for a single lane. In addition, the turns are too sharp for these vehicles to manuver safely! Just this afternoon as driving behind several large dump trucks I saw both vehicles make a right turn which required them to position their vehicle(s) in the oncoming traffic lane. If a vehicle had come around the corner it would have resulted in a horrible head-on collision.

Elbow Road must either be widened to accomodate these larger vehicles OR there must be a safety restriction in place to allow for POV's to use the road safely.

1.5 ton limit for trucks? A Ford Ranger pick-up truck weighs 3170 empty. Few cars weigh less than 3000 pounds (1.5 tons). Most SUV's weigh 2.5 tons. I guess that no one will be able to use that road.

In these times of $4 gallon gas, does it make sense to make us drive 10 miles out of their way just because there are some people that don't know how to drive and cause accidents?

taxi rates were governed by cities. Or is this by locale? Or just another 'you live in Virginia and are going to be taxed to death' tax?

A tax question --- do you know the taxes you pay on a SLURPEE from 7-11? A state tax, a food tax and a MEAL TAX! I'm impressed -- Slurpees are considered a meal.....tell that to those who need food. Yum.