Residents on Chestnut and New Streets submitted a petition for a truck exclusion in July 2010. Since then, the Police Department and DPW have done studies and come up with various options to deter the excessive heavy commercial traffic on these streets.

The average weekend truck traffic on New Street is 7.8 percent. The average weekday traffic is 10.4 percent. The average truck traffic on Chestnut Street is 6.1 percent on the weekend and 7 percent on weekdays. Those numbers exceed the state average of 5 percent.

Ninety-six percent of trucks use New Street for a cut through. Seventeen percent of the truck traffic is local, 56 percent is pass-through traffic and 27 percent was unidentifiable.

“This neighborhood does suffer from heavy commercial vehicle traffic,” said Sergeant Thomas Romeo.

According to DPW Director Dick Carnevale, there are a few options to defray traffic from these streets:

• Have truck traffic continue east on Park Street, and turn right onto Haverhill Street.
• Have truck traffic continue down Main Street to Franklin Street in Reading and cut over. This would require permission from Reading since Franklin Street is not a state numbered road.
• Have truck traffic continue down Main Street to Route 129 in Reading and then east bound to get to Route 128.
• Have truck traffic continue east on Route 62 toward Middleton, then Lynnfield, and then cut through Route 128.
• Have truck traffic use Route 93 via Concord Street.
• Another option is to make New Street a one way.

According to Police Chief Mike Murphy, a truck exclusion may displace the problem to another area. He suggested looking at the cost associated with installing raised crosswalks on Chestnut Street. Raised crosswalks have worked in other communities and may deter truck drivers from those roads. 

"The ultimate goal is to put the truck traffic somewhere else,” said Selectman Sean Delaney.

The Board of Selectmen decided to schedule a public hearing during its second meeting in April. The meeting will posted in advance in our event calendar and on the town's website.