DETROIT (WXYZ) — A group of residents and community leaders in Southwest Detroit are focused on limiting semitruck traffic on residential streets and are determined for the city to pass an ordinance for designated truck routes.
The group managed to get the city to post 80 "no truck" signs recently. However, they say more urgency is needed to stop an ongoing hazard.
Thomasennia Weston bought her home in 2001 on Livernois near Verner Highway and said she’s noticed stress cracks forming in her foundation and her porch steps. She said they’re from semi-trailer truck traffic on her street throughout the day and that truckers break the 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew. That's the timeframe they're not allowed to drive down residential streets.
“I could be woken up anywhere from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. to 4 (or) 5 because my house is vibrating. My bed is vibrating," Weston told 7 Action News.
Simone Sagovac with the Southwest Detroit Community Benefits Coalition said, “How many trucks would bother you crossing passed your house each day at home? How many would bother you? One semi? Ten? Fifty? A hundred? How about over 1,000 trucks on any given day here in Southwest Detroit on a residential street?”
The group said there needs to be more police enforcement to stop truckers who violate the current laws, like entering restricted areas, speeding and idling for over six minutes.
The concerns include noise, health concerns — because of air pollution from the diesel emissions — and crashes, like a property damage incident on Oct. 2. It was caught on a surveillance camera. The trucker jumped the curb and hit the hundred-year-old building. He stopped to pick up the debris but then drove off.
“Green Light (Project) camera caught this driver and was able to hold this driver accountable for his actions. Now, that is only one small example of what’s happening in our community on a regular basis," explained Laura Chavez-Wazerund Din, interim president of the Southwest Detroit Business Association.
Angie Reyes, executive director of the Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation, said, "We need the city to have designated truck routes that move the trucks away from where people live. Southwest Detroit is the most densely packed neighborhood in the city of Detroit."
"We have the most number of children under the age of 5. We have the highest levels of asthma among our children and our seniors in the city and in the state of Michigan," she explained.
