Extreme care required to free oversized truck

Historic City News confirmed with contractors working for Latitudes Northeast Florida that the oversized delivery truck that wound up wedged under the broken planks of the street-side balcony of the Ximenez-Fatio house Monday, will likely be freed this afternoon.

Although the ancient, historic building is over two hundred years old, the balcony is not — in fact, this is the third time in the past two years that it has been struck by a truck.

If you look down Charlotte Street, which runs parallel and north of King Street, where homes and businesses also have balconies, the structures are set back off the street so that the balconies overhang the sidewalk — not the roadway. This is not the case on narrower, Aviles Street; which runs south of King Street and is likely the oldest street in the city.

A swinging warning sign hangs below the archway over the north entrance to Aviles Street to alert drivers that the maximum clearance is only 8-feet. But, the driver of the commercial truck didn’t pull onto Aviles from King Street — he turned south onto Aviles Street from Artillery Lane. Although the side street is narrower than Aviles, it’s primary height limitation is overhead power lines which are not a problem for commercial vehicles.