Savannah’s Landmark Historic District also faces a unique threat of damage from heavier vibrations caused by these larger trucks. Because local and interstate roads were designed with lower maximum thresholds, it places heavier damage onto the pavement and could pass damaging effects into homes and households into Savannah’s historic districts.
Dangerous traffic is already a major issue here in the Savannah metro area. In 2022, there were 256 fatalities in Georgia involving commercial trucks, a 15% increase from the previous year. Throwing even heavier trucks into the mix is an especially bad idea – and under the proposed legislation these heavier rigs will be prohibited from interstate travel where the weight limit is 80,000 pounds. This will push traffic onto local roads and state rights-of-way, forcing heavy trucks on the same streets as vulnerable pedestrians and bicyclists.