A west Saint John man wants the city to do something about the amount of truck traffic on his residential street.
Geoff Keating lives on Harding Street, which is a designated route for trucks, and gave a presentation to council on Monday night.
“I bought an apartment building in 1998, didn’t know Harding Street was the way it was, and had a big surprise when I moved in,” says Harding. “It’s always been bad, but since the mill project happened, it’s ridiculous, it just never stops.”
Keating says he and other residents have major concerns about air pollution, noise and safety.
Hundreds of trucks use the street daily to get to Highway 1, including some from the nearby Irving Pulp and Paper mill.
A traffic study conducted in June 2014 saw more than 260 trucks travel the road in a 24-hour period.
Coun. Blake Armstrong suggested moving the truck route back to Ready Street, which he says is less cumbersome.
“It still puts them right directly on the highway,” says Armstrong. “Trucks still up Ready Street because they’re turning left and right to go to either Moosehead Breweries or to the pulp mill.”
City staff believe the longer-term solution is a reconfiguration of the Simms Corner interchange, but transportation commissioner Michael Hugenholtz says that won’t be cheap.
“Staff had last reviewed that back in 2007 and, at that time, the estimated costs were in the order of $7.1 million, plus land acquisition costs plus design costs,” he says.
Keating also wants to see a painted crosswalk with lights at the entrance of Harding Street and additional no-parking signs along the street.
Staff will come up with some potential solutions and report back to council at the end of April.
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