Big Trucks & Tight Turns

City Workers Repairing the Guardrails on Commercial Street

A Lamar street crew is conducting some guardrail repair work on Commercial Street where it spans the Lamar Canal.  Unfortunately the route is used by some trucks too wide and long to negotiate the bridge and the guardrails suffer for the size.  

Cutting the Guardrail Braces

Lamar Public Works director Pat Mason said it would be nice to widen the road at that point, but the city budget doesn’t allow for that sized project.  He said every two years the state conducts an assessment of all the bridges in the city and county, passing along their recommendations for repairs.  Mason said the bridge is structurally sound and safe to cross, but wide loads will nail the ends of the guardrails as they turn.  He said the city intends to coat the underside of the bridge with a rust suppression paint and trust that the truckers using the Industrial Park notice the posted signs on the south end of Commercial Street warning them  the road narrows at the end.

By Russ Baldwin