Golden has spent more than a year trying to get someone to listen to his complaints about the damage truck traffic is doing to the roads near his Pittsburg County home. He has contacted local, state and federal officials, but nothing has worked.
"It’s just a big dog-and-pony show down here,” Golden said.
Golden has been fixing up his home northeast of Alderson for about 10 years while running a small farm. The county roads near Golden’s home weren’t even paved until a few years ago, he said.
The problems started about 18 months ago when a neighbor started running a trucking company from his home.
Golden said now there always are heavily laden trucks traversing nearby roads.
"They’re destroyed and getting worse,” he said of the roads.
At least one of those roads has a posted limit of 10 tons, but Golden estimates some of the trucks triple that figure because a standard 18-wheeler weighs 20 tons.
Most oil field equipment adds another 10 tons or more, Golden said.
A common problem Golden’s neighbor, William Sharp, acknowledges his trucks weigh up to 40 tons, but questions how the posted limits are calculated.
Sharp, who runs WWJB Contracting, said the numbers seem arbitrary, with some roads marked inconsistently.
Golden said he wants to protect the roads from overweight trucks, but no one he’s talked to seems interested in helping.
"My main concern is public safety,” Golden said.
Pittsburg County Commissioner Gene Rodgers said it is a common problem.
"We’ve got the same situation going on all over southeast Oklahoma and all over Oklahoma,” Rodgers said.
Rodgers said there is no way to keep the trucks off the roads, so officials simply try to fix the roads as quickly as possible.
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