Petition to ban commercial vehicles from US129 (Deals Gap)

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Most people on this thread are a bunch of spoiled little brats, you guys want hard working truck drivers to have to take other routes potentially using more gas and making less profit and delivering later so you can have your nice little road all to yourselfs as your privaye public free track?

And you guys are using the safety excuse??? really? because I am sure everyone going to the dragon is going to talk on a safety seminar and not to use the public roads like holligans

It's like me asking for the 507 to be traffic free so I can go and do what I do on that road...BS grow up
 
^ I didn't sign the petition and don't care myself as I don't go down to that road... but it's not an unreasonable petition. The fact is that the road is physically impassable by trucks without basically being closed entirely to traffic in both directions.

If trucks we doing this on a road you regularly ride, you'd probably want them gone too. US129 is no different, it's a road with lots of users (not everybody races around) and trucks probably shouldn't be allowed on it due to the severity of grades and curves. It's a nuisance, it's unsafe, and it causes what's essentially an uncontrolled road closure.

We have roads in our own backyard which don't allow trucks for the very same reason. Forks of the Credit and a small section of Appleby Line by rattlesnake point come to mind...
 
I dont hear anyone in here bitching about any other roads in the US that are also "unsafe" for trucks to ride them, if that was the case I would respect your little crusade, but we all know the only reason there is focus on that road is not because of the safety excuse, it's because you wanna go there and ride it 3 times the speed limit.

Buddy, part of riding streets like hooligans is the fact that you are going to be unsafe, deal with it or do like that dude on the other thread and pack it in and sell the bike

Just have the balls to call it like it is
 
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Re: If You or Want To Ride The Dragon

Sucks for you if you can only offer one or the other! :lol:
 
Trucks should not be on that road. Those that need to use it, should have an escort. Implement a law stating such. Bikers will be sure to enforce it by getting/capturing the plates of trucks violating said hypothetical law. End of story. That should appease the safety aspect.

I've been on the road, and no, it is not possible to navigate a rig through there without crossing the lines. I've never driven a rig, but my dad does, and he agrees with me, based on my GoPro footage.

My girlfriend brought up the interesting point that if trucks are unable to stay in their own lane to navigate the road, then they're already violating the law (i.e. stay in your own lane) and are not really in control of their vehicle. Not sure of how correct she is on the legal aspect, but I agree with her line of thinking. That in itself should be enough to ban rigs from the road.

But I agree with ZX600, this is only getting so much attention because of its significance to bikers. Having ridden the road, I understand the sentiment. There is something special about the road and the area. But I also respected the road, and how it has taken so many lives over the years. I didn't obey the speed limit, but I didn't go full retard either. I held back, because you never know what's around that next corner. And I wanted to come home in 1 piece. I'll kill myself on the track.
 
You shoul never go full retard....... that's a quote from a movie :)
 
Re: If You or Want To Ride The Dragon

Brian P said:
With regards to the TN side, this has also been found:

http://www.aitaonline.com/Info/Road/Restricted Routes.html#Tennessee Restricted Routes

Now the question remains, why trucks are flaunting the existing restrictions.
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The question it actually raises, in my mind, is why it isn't enforced by the police presence there if both sides of the border have such restrictions?

ZX600 said:
I dont hear anyone in here bitching about any other roads in the US that are also "unsafe" for trucks to ride them, if that was the case I would respect your little crusade, but we all know the only reason there is focus on that road is not because of the safety excuse, it's because you wanna go there and ride it 3 times the speed limit.

Buddy, part of riding streets like hooligans is the fact that you are going to be unsafe, deal with it or do like that dude on the other thread and pack it in and sell the bike

Just have the balls to call it like it is
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No one is complaining about other such roads, because this thread isn't about other roads. It's about US 129, which many people on this board have a great deal of familiarity with. I suppose I could start a thread about restricting transport traffic on Alabama State 65, between Paint Rock and the Tennessee border, but how many people here would have a clue what I was talking about?
 
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Re: If You or Want To Ride The Dragon

Rob MacLennan said:
I suppose I could start a thread about restricting transport traffic on Alabama State 65, between Paint Rock and the Tennessee border, but how many people here would have a clue what I was talking about?
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I believe there's a comprehensive writeup, including pertinent statutes, on Alabama State 65 on turbowiki.
 
Re: If You or Want To Ride The Dragon

There are some folks still replying to this, who need to READ THE THREAD ...

It is ALREADY not legal for trailers longer than 30 feet to go on this road. Drivers with 53 foot trailers going on the Deals Gap road are ALREADY breaking EXISTING laws. The issue is one of awareness and enforcement, not legality - it's already illegal.
 
Re: If You or Want To Ride The Dragon

Brian P said:
There are some folks still replying to this, who need to READ THE THREAD ...

It is ALREADY not legal for trailers longer than 30 feet to go on this road. Drivers with 53 foot trailers going on the Deals Gap road are ALREADY breaking EXISTING laws. The issue is one of awareness and enforcement, not legality - it's already illegal.
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Brian, I believe the thread is about banning all commercial vehicles which many of them are under the 53 foot trailer category. I don't believe the op's issue was one of enforcement or awareness, I would be ok with that, I believe his issue is one of banning all commercial vehicles so we the riders can enjoy this beautiful road "safely" which I don't agree with.

the petition letter is called "restrict access to us highway 129 to non-commercial traffic"

by the way, doesn't this mean restricting access to all traffic but commercial vehicles? Maybe im still hanged over from the weekend.
 
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Re: If You or Want To Ride The Dragon

Brian P said:
There are some folks still replying to this, who need to READ THE THREAD ...

It is ALREADY not legal for trailers longer than 30 feet to go on this road. Drivers with 53 foot trailers going on the Deals Gap road are ALREADY breaking EXISTING laws. The issue is one of awareness and enforcement, not legality - it's already illegal.
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Now it's 30 feet? I thought I read that 48-foot trailer were legal for local deliveries, whereas the 30 foot limit was only for through traffic.

Wait, that's what I did read. Up to 48-foot trucks are legal.
US 129 GRAHAM No through truck tractors with trailers longer than 30 feet between US 74 and the Swain County line.
US 129 SWAIN -> No through truck tractors with trailers longer than 30 feet, and no truck tractors with trailers longer than 48 feet, north of the Cheoah Dam between the Graham County line and the Tennessee state line.
http://www.ncdot.org/travel/statemapping/download/nctruckrestrix.pdf
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Re: If You or Want To Ride The Dragon

Given that there are no businesses between the NC28 junction (at Deals Gap motorcycle resort - just up the hill from Cheoah dam) and Punkin Center on the TN side, there are no "local deliveries" except for that short bit between Cheoah dam and NC28 (which is not a big deal), and they are all "through traffic". It almost doesn't matter. Most truck trailers these days are 53-footers, which are not allowed. I think the food truck that services the DGMR has a 36-foot trailer, and it doesn't cause a big problem.

The trailer involved in the recent fatality collision was a 53-footer.
 
Re: If You or Want To Ride The Dragon

Brian P said:
Given that there are no businesses between the NC28 junction (at Deals Gap motorcycle resort - just up the hill from Cheoah dam) and Punkin Center on the TN side, there are no "local deliveries" except for that short bit between Cheoah dam and NC28 (which is not a big deal), and they are all "through traffic". It almost doesn't matter. Most truck trailers these days are 53-footers, which are not allowed. I think the food truck that services the DGMR has a 36-foot trailer, and it doesn't cause a big problem.

The trailer involved in the recent fatality collision was a 53-footer.
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Any one who's been down there should already know that.
 
Re: If You or Want To Ride The Dragon

turbo hasn't been down there so as per usual he's talking out of his behind
 
Re: If You or Want To Ride The Dragon

Luckily i encountered this guy in a not-so-tight corner. I did not end up having a lot of room as is. Hard to tell in the pics (they are screen captures from the video) but he was about 3' over the yellow line into my lane.

ZOMFG1.png


ZOMFG2.png


ZOMFG3.png
 
Re: If You or Want To Ride The Dragon

Luckily i encountered this guy in a not-so-tight corner. I did not end up having a lot of room as is. Hard to tell in the pics (they are screen captures from the video) but he was about 3' over the yellow line into my lane.
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In the first picture, looks like your looking through the corner (head is turned a bit) and you were ready to react. I guess riding / track dose make your see more things and pick them up quicker. Close nevertheless, was this recent? Would have been bad if you veered off into all those tree trunks.
 
Re: If You or Want To Ride The Dragon

Breaking in the new ride in a proper environment I see?
Twisty roads lend themselves well to ensuring no "constant throttle operation" will ensue during break in period...LOL
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