Powder Springs Police to crack on big truck driving on Brownsville Road

POWDER SPRINGS, Ga. - Police in Powder Springs will soon start cracking down on big rigs driving where they don’t belong. They’re launching an operation targeting heavy trucks, weighing more than 36,000 pounds, traveling on Brownsville Road between Marietta Street and Highway 238.

Big trucks, even 18-wheelers, routinely rumble up and down Brownsville Road 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Neighbors complain they’re loud and dangerous. And they want to slam the brakes on those big rigs.

"They don’t follow the speed limit," said Karen Porter, a homeowner on Brownsville Road. "There’s a truck that goes up and down this road all the time."

Porter says big-rig drivers ignore the roads signs banning trucks weighing more than 36,000 pounds, driving up her street anyway.

"I can sit here and count 10 in a day, maybe. Every time these trucks go over, it shakes your house," Porter said.

"We are getting a number of complaints," said Powder Springs Police Capt. Anthony Stallings. He says the road cannot handle such heavy loads. "Upwards of 40-, 50-, 60-, 70-, 80-thousand pounds. That creates damage to the roadways that the road was not constructed for."

There’s also a park, at Brownsville and Marietta, where kids play.

"There may be a child who strays from the park and runs into the roadway," Stallings said.

Police starting next week will launch an operation to crack down on the lumbering giants. "We will be citing all drivers as they violate the law in moving commercial vehicles this way," Stallings said.

Police won’t say exactly when or what hours they’ll be out here writing tickets to avoid tipping off violators.