Ward 2 residents want heavy truck traffic stopped

When Kim Loughran gets home from working a long night shift she knows at least one thing to expect on her street.

Heavy trucks are a regular sight at all hours of the day in her otherwise quiet residential neighbourhood.

“They’re just thump, thump, thump, thump, bang, bang, rattling the windows in your house,” she said.

Loughran lives in Charlottetown’s Ward 2 on a street where a sign is supposed to keep heavy trucks from using it Following are the top three issues residents identified.

Terry MacLeod:

- increased police presence

- dangerous intersections as a thoroughfare.

Instead, she said despite efforts by local residents over the years the truck traffic hasn’t stopped.

“The sign’s there. How could you not see it?”

Her street used to have speed bumps to try and keep the speeds down, but eventually took them out,

- cosmetic pesticides

Will McFadden:

- water runoff - thefts from vehicles - cosmetic pesticides

Ken DesRoches:

- new Brackley Point Road roundabout Loughran said.

“The trucks going the speed bumps worse.”

Loughram said the ward’s Coun. Danny Redmond tried to address the issue and several years ago some area residents held a meeting to voice their concerns. over was

- administrative issues ending in IRAC appeals

- cosmetic pesticides

Ron Lee:

- increased police presence - affordable housing - cosmetic pesticides

But after Monday’s election Ward 2 will have a new councillor after Redmond decided not to re-offer.

Ron Lee is one of the candidates trying to win Redmond’s old seat. He said residents have voiced concerns about truck traffic, including gravel trucks that aren’t covered.

“The dust is blowing everywhere and it’s getting on their cars and going in their homes and apartments,” he said.

Candidate Ken DesRoches said the trucks are noisy and potentially dangerous, including the gravel trucks that throw up rocks as they go.

“Everybody recognizes that these aren’t the easiest things to control, but it’s certainly something we could have the police department revisit, hopefully with some of the residents,” he said.

Another candidate, Terry MacLeod, said it’s not just the time of day trucks drive through the neighbourhoods or their speed that he’s hearing about from residents. It’s also the noise. “When they’re empty coming back if you’ve got a crack or a pothole, kaboom,” MacLeod said.

Will McFadden said while out meeting residents he has heard similar concerns about truck noise, but they were mainly from people who live near the bypass.

“They’re going to hear the road traffic going through but other than that in the more centralized parts of the ward it’s not much of an issue,” he said.