Trucks

All drilling equipment – machines, tanks, drilling rig, supplies of diesel fuel, etc. - is brought in on tractor trailers. Each fracking requires 550 to 2,500 tanker truckloads of water. Plus there are tanker trucks for the sand and chemicals to do the fracing. Many of these trucks are “oversized loads” and get stuck on the winding back roads in WV. Traffic jams and mishaps have blocked roads from a few hours to days. Road damage is unavoidable. Finally there is the continual coming and going of the pickups for industry workers and managers.

The Silver Hill area in Wetzel Co has suffered a variety of problems from the thousands of oversized trucks traveling their narrow country roads. On unmarked roads, one has to look out for rigs hauling large trailers, equipment, rigging gear, sand, and water to the many wells in the area. Because of this traffic increase and large rigs pulling oversize equipment, the school bus for the Silver Hill area now has an escort vehicle in front of them in the morning and evening to make sure their passage is clear.

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Some trucks are too long to get around sharp curves and end up blocking the road for hours.

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Some trucks so wide there is not room to pass them.

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Some trucks, especially those with drivers from Texas and Oklahoma, don’t stay on the roads, and winter presents new problems for drivers not familiar with snow and icy hills.


Long convoys tie up the roads and make lots of diesel exhaust.

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The Silver Hill Volunteer Fire Department (at right below) was completely blocked by a traffic jam for several hours on more than one occasion.

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For road damage created by this truck traffic see ROADS

 

 

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