Detroit residents battle excessive semi-trucks barreling down residential streets
(CBS DETROIT) - Some Detroit residents are fed up. They say there's no shortage of semi-trucks on their residential roads every day, and they are hoping the city will step in to make things right.
"From 3 a.m. to 5 [a.m.], you will find a few trucks coming down this street [Livernois] early in the morning. There are very loud potholes. They are very loud! Which is sleep deprivation," said Thomasenia Weston.
Weston lived along Livernois Avenue in Southwest Detroit for over 20 years. She says for the past four years, every day, her neighborhood has been bombarded with semi-trucks.
"It is like a freeway. It is consistent. It is loud. You can't hear your TV or stand on your porch," she said.
Others in the southwest community share the same sentiment. Nearby on Vernor Highway, community leaders say the trucks also pose another threat.
"A semi-truck was traveling down the highway and made a rash decision to jump the curb and collide with the building," said Laura Chavez, president of the Southwest Detroit Business Association.
Chavez said when the incident happened in early October, the driver took off. Thanks to nearby surveillance, the driver ended up being caught.
"The driver never reported the incident to his supervisor or to the intermodel freight company to which he belonged to," Chavez said.
For the community members, they said they're hoping to get more resources to fix the issue. One way is if an ordinance is created that makes clear guidelines on when semis can be on residential streets.
"How about over 1,000 trucks on any given day here in Southwest Detroit are on a residential street that has all homes, maybe a mom-and-pop store. But these are not industrial streets," said Simone Sagovac with Detroit's Community Benefits Coalition.
Since the ongoing saga, residents said additional signage has been placed throughout the area, letting drivers know of the times they can proceed down roadways.
Here's another worry for residents the health implications of the dust particles trucks spread could prove disastrous.
"We still get the blacky sticky soot and still have the health impacts of everybody else that lives in Southwest Detroit. We need the city to have designated truck routes that move the trucks away from where people live."