The Agency of Transportation has reopened Route 108 through Smugglers’ Notch for the season.
And truck drivers that don’t pay attention to the size limits this year could be paying a lot more in fines when they get stuck.
Lawmakers are currently considering a bill that would increase the fine from $1,000 to $10,000 for large vehicles that get stuck in Smugglers’ Notch, which is between Stowe and Cambridge on Mount Mansfield.
If a stuck vehicle substantially impedes traffic, the fine could be increased to $20,000.
The proposed changes are in this year’s miscellaneous amendments to the state’s traffic laws, a bill that has already passed the Senate and is now being debated in the House.
Vehicles over 40 feet, or a combination of vehicles longer than 45 feet, are not permitted through Smugglers’ Notch.
Large trucks cannot get through the narrow and winding mountain pass, yet despite posted warnings on either side of the pass, they try every year to navigate the road.
The state is once again keeping the traffic calming devices known as chicanes in place this year to discourage trucks from ignoring the size limits and trying to go up and over the pass.
This is the third year the chicanes have been in place.
The state had seen, on average, about seven or eight stuck vehicles in the decade before the chicanes were put in place.
And while they have substantially cut down on the number of trucks that ignore the warnings and try to get over the road, a handful still attempt to make it through every year.
Only one vehicle got stuck in 2024, and last year there were two vehicles that ignored the warnings and had to be towed off of the road.
