Community Corner

Truckers Organize Capital Beltway Shutdown This Weekend

The protest will start on Friday, and truckers say that only supporters of their cause will be allowed on the Capital Beltway.

Update (Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2013, at 2:30 p.m.): A protest planned by truckers to shut down the Capital Beltway this weekend by jamming all but one lane of the Inner Loop with trucks was just a ploy to attract media attention, The Washington Post reported.

"The comments to U.S. News were designed to do one thing and one thing only: stir the feather of the mainstream media," Earl Conlon—who told U.S. News and World Report on Monday that he was handling the logistics of the truckers' protest—told The Post on Tuesday. 

"Nothing gets the attention of the mainstream media like some sort of disastrous threat. I knew it was going to ruffle some feathers," he added.

>>>Read more about the hoax on The Washington Post's website.

Original story (Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2013, at 11 a.m.):
 Do your Columbus Day weekend plans involve Capital Beltway travel?

If so, listen up: Truck drivers are planning on using the Capital Beltway from Friday, Oct. 11, through Sunday, Oct. 13, as part of a protest against the government, DCist.com reported.

According to U.S. News and World Report, they'll take up the Inner Loop of the road and travel three trucks deep, at 55 mph, leaving only the left lane open for emergency vehicles. No one will be allowed on the road without "T2SDA"—which stands for "Truckers to Shut Down America"—written on their vehicle, Earl Conlon, a Georgia trucker who is handling logistics for the protest, told U.S. News.

They're protesting a variety of things: the U.S.'s provision of weapons (they allege) to al-Qaida-linked rebels in Syria, Environmental Protection Agency fuel efficiency standards and the high cost of diesel fuel, among other things, U.S. News reported.

Their destination is the National Mall and Congress, where they plan to demand the arrest of certain members of Congress. And if the police do not make the arrests, Conlon—who wrote a fiction novel in 2004 in which American truck drivers go into long-term hiding to protest trucking issues, Overdrive Magazine reported—says they'll form a citizens' jury and make the arrests themselves, U.S. News added.

Two convoys will approach the Capital Beltway: one from Doswell, VA (a couple dozen miles north of Richmond), off of Interstate 95, and one from Harrisburg, PA, off of Interstate 81, according to the Facebook page for the event, to which 674 people had said that they were going as of 11 a.m. Tuesday.

The event's Facebook page also encourages people coast to coast to spend no money all weekend, and encourages truckers to ride convoy-style on highways across the country, particularly around state capitals. Bikers, RV's and other vehicles are welcome to join in the protest, according to the event's Facebook page.

Officer Darrell Davis of the permits office of the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department told Overdrive that he had no current permit on file for the truckers' proposed demonstration in DC on Friday, but that police were aware of it.

Do you think the trucks will be able to stop traffic on the Inner Loop of the Capital Beltway? 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Riverdale Park-University Park