The Notch is open again. Place your bets on how long until a truck gets stuck.
Vermont 108 — locally known as the Smugglers Notch road — has reopened once again for the warmer months, and Vermonters are already taking bets as to when the first tractor trailer will get stuck.
The winding road, which is closed each winter, is notorious for ensnaring tractor trailer truck drivers who fail to heed the warnings on electronic signs preceding the route that they could face a fine for driving through the Notch.
Tractor trailers or commercial vehicles who drive through the Notch could face a $1,000 fine. Drivers who get stuck and impede traffic face a $2,000 fine, according to Vermont law. A second or subsequent violation within a three-year period doubles the fine.
The Twitter account for 511 Vermont, which shares information based on reports from the Vermont Agency of Transportation, announced the Notch's reopening May 3.
Hours later, the local music venue Higher Ground shared the 511 Vermont post, challenging its followers to guess how many days would pass before the first truck gets stuck. Higher Ground plans to give tickets to an upcoming show to the person who had the closest guess, according to its Twitter post. But, there were a few guidelines.
"This should go without saying, however, your vote is automatically disqualified if you happen to be the driver of the first Tractor Trailer to get stuck this season," Higher Ground wrote in a subsequent Twitter post.
See also: Vermont drivers L0V2SKI and H8PEAS: Highlights of vanity license plates on the road
Yay! Any guesses as to how many days until the first Tractor Trailer gets stuck in The Notch this season? Closest guess wins a pair of tickets to an upcoming show. https://t.co/GbkNRTxK1T
— Higher Ground (@HigherGround) May 3, 2022
A number of people guessed that the first tractor trailer would get stuck within a week of the reopening.
As of late morning on May 4 — one day after the Notch's reopening was announced — there had been no reports of a truck getting stuck along Vermont 108.
Contact Elizabeth Murray at 802-310-8585 or emurray@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LizMurrayBFP.
This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Vermont 108 Notch road reopens, people bet on stuck trucks
