NORTHAMPTON — Like clockwork, the 18-wheeler rumbled down Lincoln Avenue, drowning out the sounds of youngsters playing in their front yards Wednesday afternoon. Adults outside scoffed — it wasn’t the first truck they’d seen pass through their quiet neighborhood that day, and they were confident it wouldn’t be the last.
Residents of the 18 homes on Lincoln Avenue have been sounding off on the issue for several years and maintain their concerns are falling on deaf ears. So on Thursday, neighbors plan to appear again before City Council to voice their issues.
The City Council will convene at 7 p.m. at the Wallace J. Puchalski Municipal Building.
“The safety (issue) is really the thing we’re concerned about,” said Craig McNeil, 35, whose daughter, Morgan, was making preparations for a lemonade stand in the front yard behind him. “As a town, why are we taking that kind of risk? It seems like a simple fix.”
McNeil said that he has even resorted during the past two days to pulling over truck drivers as they come through the neighborhood, kindly discouraging them from continuing to use Lincoln Avenue.
City officials have heard the complaints for several years and have tried several initiatives to address the issue.
“We’re trying to make getting in and out of the industrial park through Damon Road … easier for trucks,” Mayor David Narkewicz said Wednesday night. “I think the other thing we’re up against is that there’s a lot of independent truckers who are coming and making” deliveries and depend on GPS devices that take them through the neighborhood.
Ward 3 City Councilor Ryan O’Donnell, who is also chairman of the Transportation and Parking Commission, said he heard the residents loud and clear — after all, he added, he lives on Day Avenue, another residential street trucks tend to use.
“I’ve done by best to reach out to people and provide a forum for discussion on this topic,” O’Donnell said. “It’s a problem that has no one easy solution … There’s no one thing I’m aware of that we could do that would instantly solve it, and that’s the challenge with this.”
The councilman also noted he was open to collaborating with all parties.
“The city is very willing to work with the residents and Coca-Cola to solve this problem,” he said. “To me, it’s not an adversarial process, it’s just a very difficult problem to solve.”
Nearby signs located in the North Street area are designed to deter trucks from passing through. However, some residents of Lincoln Avenue said they are ineffective because there are no such signs at the end that meets Bridge Street, closer to Exit 19 off Route 91. The signs warn truckers that they could face a $300 fine for continued use of Lincoln.
“This is a disaster, hopefully not a tragedy, waiting to happen … these trucks come in waves,” said Joseph Squires, 60, who has lived on the street for 30 years. “The thing is it’s very frustrating because we’re not getting any help.”
Lincoln Avenue residents have offered in the past to pay for the installation of speed humps on the street. But the city has told residents that they need to go through a traffic-calming process before a step like that is approved. Squires did exactly that, he said. In fact, he added, he did so at least three times.
The most recent appeal came during a meeting Tuesday of the Transportation and Parking Commission, where Squires said he offered an impassioned plea for the city to help curb the truck traffic.
“Lincoln Avenue now is a disaster. Truck traffic to the Coca-Cola plant in the industrial park is out of control. These trucks are now using our once quiet street as a main route to the Coke plant,” part of Squires’ address to the committee read.
Neighbors said the traffic issue was worsened in 2011 by a $50 million expansion of the Coca-Cola bottling plant in the industrial park.
The expansion meant even more trucks delivering Coca-Cola products, often using Lincoln Avenue as the route to and from the plant.
“I spoke to Mr. Squires, and I’m planning to follow up with Coca-Cola on the information he shared with me about” truck traffic, Narkewicz said.
Coca-Cola officials said Wednesday they have worked with neighbors and city officials in an attempt to curb truck traffic in the neighborhood.
“Coca-Coca has worked collaboratively with neighborhood groups and city and state officials to address traffic concerns near our Northampton production facility,” Jennifer Cruickshank, a Coca-Cola spokeswoman, said in an email. “We helped design and pay for signage to discourage trucks from traveling certain residential routes and continue to notify third-party truck companies to advise and inform drivers about the preferred route to our facility.”
But Squires said their efforts, as well as the city’s, have not been sufficient.
The trucks are “downright dirty, dusty and noisy. The Coke company said they want to be good neighbors, but I don’t think they know the definition of ‘good neighbors,’” Squires said in his address Tuesday to the commission.
Michael Majchrowicz can be reached at mmajchrowicz@gazettenet.com or 413-585-5234.