NORTHAMPTON — Four Ward 3 residents spoke during the public comment session at the City Council meeting Thursday about frustrations with traffic issue, including one who said the problem has cost her over $4,000.
Cynthia Rochan lives on Day Avenue, which runs between Bridge and North streets. Some residents have complained for years about trucks and high-speed traffic traveling through their narrow streets to get to the other side of the city. To get to the Coca-Cola plant on Industrial Drive, the city asks trucks to travel Damon Road and not the narower side streets near downtown. Violators are threatened with a fine of $300.
Still, Rochan said the vibrations from trucks speeding by her home have caused damage, most recently in the form of a fallen ceiling.
“The vibration is causing a lot of this problem,” she told councilors. “Every night when I come home from work I have to straighten all the artwork.”
She said the ceiling cost her $1,600 to fix. Before that, she said it was a $500 repair for steps that had inched away from the house to the point where they cracked open. And before that she spent $2,000 replacing a fuse box damaged after it lost connection with the wall from the vibrations, Rochan said.
The speed with which trucks “zoom” around the corner is also an issue, she added.
“Cars will come tearing around the corner,” she said. “That corner is where the bus picks up the schoolchildren and I would be very concerned for their safety.”
Michael Spink, who lives on Lincoln Avenue, said trucks whipping by are damaging his new home, keeping his family up at night and affecting their quality of life. It’s been a problem that “no one’s done anything” about for seven years, he added.
“You are not representing us,” he told councilors. “You have to do something, otherwise we’ll get someone else.”
But Ryan O’Donnell, Ward 3 councilor and chairman of the transportation and parking commission, said in an interview after the City Council meeting that while some residents feel help is not coming quickly enough, the city continues to address the issue.
“Many things have been done to try to fix the problem,” he said, referring to the addition of several signs in recent years. “There’s no shortage of imagination or commitment — it’s just a very very hard problem to solve.”
O’Donnell said the issue is a complicated one, as speeding and truck traffic are separate issues affected by many variables, such as the fact that truckers are trying to avoid the low bridge where Bridge and Main Streets meet and are often victimized by a GPS system that does not have the city’s best interests in mind.
“It’s the fact that we’re a downtown neighborhood next to a highway and there are inherent challenges and frustrations,” he said, adding that there are residents throughout the city waiting for traffic adjustments. “I think the process has to be very important, here.”
He said the process involves data collection and a waiting list, and the study done on Lincoln Avenue showed speeding was not an issue.
“I remain committed to do whatever I can to impact the truck problem,” O’Donnell said.
O’Donnell said he has been brainstorming a possible truck escape route by Sheldon Field, as well as additional signs that could deter truckers from blindly following their GPS.
Mayor David Narkewicz also told the Gazette on Wednesday that he planned to discuss possible solutions with Coca-Cola, whose delivery trucks can often be seen passing through, residents say.
“It’s totally understandable for residents to want to make their neighborhoods as safe as possible,” said O’Donnell. “We need to do whatever we can here and there. I realize it’s a frustrating process for people.”
Amanda Drane can be contacted at adrane@gazettenet.com.