News

City Approves Amendments to Prohibited Truck Routes in Olathe

At the July 16, 2013, Olathe City Council meeting, the Council approved amending the Olathe Municipal Code pertaining to prohibited truck routes. The following revisions to the code were made:

• Truck traffic is prohibited on all local and collector streets unless otherwise posted.
• The list of designated streets prohibiting truck traffic was revised as follows:
  • Allows trucks on 159th Street between 159 Highway and Lone Elm Road
  • Allows trucks on Black Bob Road between K-150 (Santa Fe) and 151st Street
  • Restricts trucks on Harold Street between K-7 and Kansas City Road since this is a narrow street in certain locations with residential homes fronting the street and bike lanes
  • Extends the prohibited truck route on College Boulevard from Ridgeview east to City limits
•  The weight rating of vehicles allowed to drive on prohibited truck routes increased from a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) or a gross combination weight rating (GCWR) of 10,001 pounds to 16,000 pounds. This revision now allows pickup trucks with trailers and small two-axle single-unit box trucks to drive on specific designated streets previously prohibited from truck traffic.
• The ordinance previously exempted certain vehicles with allowed uses (such as police, fire, and other emergency vehicles; city, county or franchised utility maintenance vehicles; and garbage collection, school, and delivery vehicles). This amendment allows the prohibited vehicles to use restricted streets, when entering or leaving their destination. Prohibited trucks are not permitted to use these streets as through routes.

What does this mean for local businesses?

This ordinance does not allow trucks to use prohibited truck routes as through routes; however, trucks with allowed uses (i.e. delivery trucks) will be permitted on prohibited streets as long as those streets are the most direct route to the truck’s destination.

For additional information and to view a map of prohibited truck routes in Olathe, visit www.OlatheKS.org/PublicWorks/ProhibitedTruckRoutes