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Hello Pulseline, below are my thoughts and concerns with the proposed and current industrial truck traffic as well as what I’ve witnessed in my most recent years of living on Holyoke Road. I’ve been living here a long time so can offer you all valuable insight as to what is happening
1. The Route These Commercial Vehicles Should Be Taking. Holyoke Road, just like Papermill road, are residential streets. In no way are either designed for the kind of heavy commercial truck traffic that rides over them daily. The correct course of action is for the trucks to take 1 of 2 paths. The first is to go south down East Mountain Road South to Route 20 and utilize the main arteries of the city that are designed for such industrial use. The second is to take East Mountain Road North to Route 202. Again, a road designed for commercial use. While I understand both railroad bridges pose limitations to certain trucks there are a significant portion of them on the road that fall below the overpass Truck Height limits and thus should be mandated to use those routes. The Residential streets of Holyoke Road and Papermill should not be the main route these trucks take because they are ‘shortcuts’.
2. Road Damage. The damage caused on Holyoke Road is substantial. In my years of living here the road has been paved multiple times due to the constant pounding these trucks put on this residential street. Manhole covers and Storm drains are continually beaten down and lie crooked. Pot Holes are everywhere. This is large waste of tax payer money to keep having to re-pave and fix these roads.
3. Environmental Hazard. One of the main aquifers and water pumping stations is on Holyoke Road. There was one incident a few years back where one of the crooked sewer drains was run over by a quarry truck causing it to break and send a piece of the drain cover into the gas tank of the truck that hit it. This caused a diesel spill but was luckily contained before it came into contact with a body of water nearby.
The bridge over the small Pond Brooke stream, which runs along the pumping station, is by no means meant to handle the weight of the trucks that run over it on a daily basis. This small bridge is crumbling underneath. Just try to imagine the environmental impact if a truck were to break through this bridge and spill oil/fuel..etc. into the water supply. Unfortunately, by the looks of it’s decay, the failure of the bridge is not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when.
4. The Proposed Change. In recent years a handful of residents on Holyoke Road sold their houses due to being in a certain noise zone by the airport. These few folks received full market value for their house and took the package. There are many more that received the same offer and decided to stay. Holyoke Road has residents that have been here their entire life and will never leave, no matter what. While their resolution is endearing it by no means should be taken advantage of by absorbing the full brunt of Commercial Truck traffic from the Quarry. There are approximately 91 homes directly on Holyoke Road that are impacted by the ‘short cut’ these trucks are taking. Add 23 more homes to that if the trucks follow it to the end of the street. I’m sure many due as they are too large to make the right turn onto Springdale Road.
By comparison PaperMill road has around 44 homes directly impacted by the trucks. Although the residents of Holyoke Road have been more silent in their opinions of the commercial truck traffic they are by far the majority who’s livelihood is at stake. Add to that the fact that Holyoke Road is a longer road to maintain than Papermill by about a 1/2 of a mile and it’s more populated. Papermill road even has a stretch of road that has no houses at all.
5. Night Construction. While this isn’t a topic of debate at the moment I just want to make you aware that Lane applies and receives permits to support night paving on the Mass Pike and other locations. While I’m a supporter of night paving to reduce daytime traffic this basically causes the residents of these Short Cut routes to have zero sleep at night. Leaving the windows open on Summer nights is not even an option. This is another reason the commercial trucks should be using main roads as their primary routes.
6. Safety. Holyoke Road and Papermill are residential roads that have sections of sidewalks but not on the entire street. On multiple occasions I’ve witnessed at first hand pedestrians getting nearly clipped by these trucks going down the road. There is not much wiggle room on the side of the road when the dump trucks are on them, and often times the trucks are on both sides of the road….. at the same time.
7. A shared road. I don’t blame the residents of Papermill for wanting the 24 hour truck exclusion but the residents of Holyoke road (more than twice as many households) deserve it just as much, if not more. The residents on both of these streets have unfairly endured accelerated degradation of the roads, constant noise and safety concerns for years and it’s only gotten worse. The right thing to do is get those commercial trucks onto main roads whenever possible, it’s a win for everyone impacted. As a group the two streets pose a significant voice to make that happen. Allowing Papermill a 24 hour truck exclusion leaves the residents of Holyoke Road to fend for themselves, which as you can tell hasn’t been working out too well.
8. Representation. After watching the council meeting on television the other night I have concerns over folks outside ward 6 voicing their option on this matter. This decision should only be voted on and given debate by those that are impacted by it, not from residents that live on the other side of town.
