SAUGUS — Local Virginia Olivero spoke at the Board of Selectman meeting during the public comment session. The focus of her discussion was the trucks going down Dudley Street.
“This started a few months ago with those monster trucks coming down my street. The tractor-trailers,” Olivero said. “They come barreling down…and believe it not, sometimes there are four in an hour.”
Olivero continued to say that the trucks come all day, and often speed down the middle of the road on top of the double yellow line.
“It’s an inconvenience to have these trucks coming down. They make a lot of dust,” she said.
Olivero has addressed the issue with both the Board of Selectmen and the Police Department and feels that no changes have been made.
Town Manager Scott Crabtree said that this was discussed during a separate Selectmen meeting, and they took some steps to try to alleviate the problem.
“Selectmen Riley and others brought up having a speed radar stationary down there, and we did that. I think the police are continuing to do that.” Crabtree said.
Crabtree mentioned that there were also complaints about engines revving, and that police have been trying to stop that.
Selectmen Jeff Cicolini also spoke about the matter with Olivero during the meeting.
“It’s not that we don’t want to help…We can’t break the rules to accommodate the people on Dudley Street. We can’t say that we’re not going to allow trucks to be on that road because then we have to provide an alternate route.” Cicolini said.
According to Cicolini, the town has agreements with certain trucking companies that are not allowed to enter the side streets. He said that these trucks were cited for not following the rules in the past, which is why it is important to try and get the company names on the trucks causing the problem.
“The general public trucks that are traveling on that road the police don’t have the authority to pull them over. If they’re speeding, yes, or if they are doing something illegal. That road is an open passable road,” Cicolini said.
Olivero was not satisfied with Cicolini’s answers, though.
“I don’t care. I don’t think any of you would want to have those trucks coming down your street all day long.” Olivero said.
Board member Michael Serino also tried his best to investigate the situation by going to Dudley to count the trucks and determine whether they were from companies that shouldn’t have been there.
“Over the last year now, traffic has been coming back…There are solutions, but I don’t know if they’ll be acceptable to the whole neighborhood. We can go for no trucking on Dudley Street, or we can go for a one-way maybe on Dudley Street, but then you’re pushing the problem onto Ballard Street,” Serino said.
Serino suggested Olivero speak to her five Town Meeting Members in her precinct.
The problem was not fully resolved at the meeting, but the Board of Selectman has tried to fix the issue for the neighborhood.
