truck traffic, Mr. Moore said the board’s request that

truck traffic, Mr. Moore said the board’s request that this action be taken as soon as possible has been forwarded to the Highway Commission.

Tractor-trailers were banned from the nine-mile stretch of Rt. 17 between Warrenton and Marshall in November 1984, after several fatal accidents involving the big rigs. Since then, truck traffic on Rt. 522 between Front Royal and Massie’s Corner has increased significantly, as truckers seek an alternate route to U. S. 29 south of Warrenton.

Rappahannock’s supervisors had been assured that the ban would be lifted after the Rt. 17 improvements were completed. That project will probably be finished some time in the spring.

Late last year, however, Mr. McCarthy informed the board that the highway department was considering a continued ban until another spur from Warrenton north to Rt. 645 is completed which would relieve truck congestion on the town’s already overcrowded roads. That spur project, however, is mired in environmental questions, and Mr. McCarthy told the board last November that “if the ban is tied to completion of that last leg, I can’t even begin to put it into a time frame. It could be years.”

In response to that news, the board authorized a letter to Constance R. Kincheloe, the county’s representative on the Highway Commission. It stated that “no such ban is justified upon completion of the parallel lanes from the Town of Warrenton to Rt. 645 . . and that a continuation of the truck ban “amounts to an excess of zeal in protecting the citizens of the Rt. 17 corridor while betraying an unfair disregard for the safety and peace of mind of the residents of the village of Flint Hill and of others who make their homes along Rt. 522.”

Mr. Moore told the board that he hopes to receive a response from the Highway Commission “soon.”