The Fauquier County Board of Supervisors has voted unanimously to recommend a proposal to ban "heavyweight through traffic of commercial trucks" on local roads to the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) at the supervisors meeting on July 14.

The next step will be a hearing before the CTB, which will take steps to put the proposal into law. The proposal, which would ban tractor trailers on Halfway Road (Route 626), Zulla Road (Route 709), Rectortown Road (Route 710) and Atoka Road (Route 713), arose from a petition last fall to ban through truck traffic on small two-lane roads, many of which are in residential and private farm areas.

Michael Motion, a major force behind the proposal, has been pressuring the county for well over a year about the bothersome truck traffic. As the public hearing approached, Mr. Motion sent out an e-mail call to arms to those affected in the neighborhood. "This is it: the battle lines are being drawn," he wrote, calling on concerned citizens to muster support and attend the proposal's public hearing. Mr. Motion was keen to remind everyone that "now is the time for action."

For many members of the community, the ban will be a welcome relief. Mrs. Kit Hemion, a Rectortown resident, said: "though I'm not as affected by the trucks as my neighbors, for the people who live on Maidstone Road, this will make their lives a lot easier and quieter." Other supporters of the ban, such as Julie Martin Matheson, were clear that "[through trucks] should not be allowed on these precious and dangerous smaller cross roads."

The Fauquier County Board of Supervisors recently approached the Middleburg Town Council to gain support for the proposal. The Town Council will hold a public meeting some time in the near future to address the issue of through truck traffic on Halfway Road (Route 626), which lies in both jurisdictions.

Though most of the community welcomes the ban, their reasoning behind it ban is mixed. Some residents place the blame on trucks that use the short cuts to bypass Route 81, Route 66, and other routes with truck weight scales, avoiding fees that the state uses to upkeep roads. Others place the blame on the route 17 truck ban. Ms. Matheson said, "the problems of these cut through routes only started when (Route) 17 became restricted by the residents in Paris."

Whatever the cause, people living on the affected roads are eagerly awaiting enactment, which would not necessarily end all truck traffic. As one resident pointed out, "Such a ban wouldn't impair local trucks and deliveries such as hay and feed for the cattle and horses, but will be the first step toward reducing the heavyweight traffic on our roads."