Residents in Kentucky are blaming outdated GPS information for an influx in lost semi trucks getting stuck and causing damage in their neighborhood following the opening of a new warehouse.
Chuck Bullard Jr, a resident of the Okolona neighborhood in Lexington, Kentucky for the last 50 years, says that he was a truck driver for 30 years and knows what it’s like to be led astray by a GPS. Still, he says something has to be done about the trucks getting lost, and subsequently stuck, in his neighborhood and on Minor Lane specifically.
“We had 20 semis through here yesterday — full 53-foot trailers blocking the road trying to make turns onto Clay Avenue off Minor Lane,” Bullard said to WLKY News.
“They’re running through our yard, making ruts in our yard, tearing mailboxes down. My neighbor across the street has lost six mailboxes in the last year,” he continued.
Bullard attributes the truck traffic to a new warehouse on Interstate 65 and Outer Loop, which has yet to show up on GPS because it’s so new. Bullard says that he has spoken to some of these lost drivers, who say that GPS leads them to his neighborhood, only there’s no entrance to the warehouse on Minor Lane. A semi-truck accessible road was recently constructed, giving trucks direct access to the warehouse, but the road has yet to show up on GPS either.
“Right across the street is where the address for GPS says they’re supposed to be. I drove a truck for 30 years and I know what it’s like. You go by GPS and you get there and you can see the building. There’s just no way to get to it,” Bullard said, adding that he’s reached out to Metro Councilman Mark Fox and other city departments several times without any response.
Metro Councilman Mark Fox says that he only heard about the issue on Tuesday, April 5th, and had temporary “No Truck Traffic” signs put up at the entrance to the neighborhood the next day. Fox says he plans to look into the issue further to see what he can do to ensure that trucks can find the newly constructed roadway into the warehouse in the future.
The owner of the warehouse property, Nicklies Development, says that they only became aware of the problem on Monday, April 4th, when a third-party trucking company delivering equipment to a warehouse tenant notified them of the issue while attempting to make the delivery. Since then, President and Chief Executive Officer of the company, David Nicklies, has confirmed that the truck entrance, Brooke Elizabeth Way, has yet to be added to GPS maps. Nicklies says that his company is working on getting the roadway added, is increasing signage directing drivers to the new new road, and is even planning on hiring security personnel to direct trucks to the entrance.