[OMS_MANAGERS] Big trucks on Main St?

[Rita Grady]

Greetings All,

I reached out to the City and received this very informative response from our Mayor, Brian Dalton:

“My understanding from long ago is that Cities like ours have little control over free commerce (e.g., keeping big trucks off Main Street).  The public highways are essentially controlled by the Interstate Commerce Commission and not locals.  There may be some exceptions as I recall like Hospital Zones where quiet is a health and safety issue, but otherwise, unless there are special circumstances the big trucks can drive down Main Street to their heart's content.

In the case of Dallas, my understanding is that we designated preferred alternative routes such as Levens Street and reached voluntary agreements with heavy users like the Mill to use these alternatives.  Fortunately, they were very supportive of our request and there is minimal heavy truck traffic on our Main Street as a consequence. “

Take a look at your city map to see if there is an alternative routes that trucks could easily navigate.  Always easier to reach voluntary agreements and sometimes both sides need to give a little.

Good luck.

Rita Grady
Executive Director, Polk CDC
President, Dallas Downtown Association


From: OMS_MANAGERS <oms_managers-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us> On Behalf Of W Darin Rutledge, Executive Director
Sent: Tuesday, May 7, 2019 9:54 PM
To: Oregon Main Street program managers <oms_managers at listsmart.osl.state.or.us>
Subject: Re: [OMS_MANAGERS] Big trucks on Main St?

Given that it’s truck traffic, is it by any chance Hwy 99? Many cities have state highways either straight through their downtowns or overlaid on main streets in downtown (for example, our Main Street in Klamath Falls carries US 97 Business and state Hwy 39, even though it’s not the main section of either highway.

If that’s the case, the best place to start the conversation would probably be your local ODOT district manager. They probably won’t give you a solution but can at least tell you what would be involved in making the change(s), and who would need to be involved (and nothing could/would happen without ODOT on board, so they’d need to be in the conversation from the beginning).

Shawn’s comment also touched on a suggestion: are you able to identify if this is through traffic or local traffic? The solution is probably significantly different (and may be easier/more difficult) depending on the answer.

Good luck!
Darin



From: OMS_MANAGERS <oms_managers-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us<mailto:oms_managers-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us>> on behalf of Shawn Irvine <irvine.shawn at ci.independence.or.us<mailto:irvine.shawn at ci.independence.or.us>>
Reply-To: Oregon Main Street program managers <oms_managers at listsmart.osl.state.or.us<mailto:oms_managers at listsmart.osl.state.or.us>>
Date: Tuesday, May 7, 2019 at 4:59 PM
To: Oregon Main Street program managers <oms_managers at listsmart.osl.state.or.us<mailto:oms_managers at listsmart.osl.state.or.us>>
Subject: Re: [OMS_MANAGERS] Big trucks on Main St?

There’s not much you’re going to be able to do about it unfortunately, unless they’re using some kind of odd residential street as a shortcut.  Many main streets are the main drag through town, so that’s where the traffic goes.  We had success working with a local mill to have them change the way their trucks came and went from the site – from a narrow, unimproved residential street with no sidewalks to a residential street one block over that was wider and had sidewalks.  The plant manager basically listed use of the new road in the delivery instructions and freight papers.  Not sure that’s applicable to your situation though.

Shawn

From: OMS_MANAGERS <oms_managers-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us<mailto:oms_managers-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us>> On Behalf Of Jared Sidman
Sent: Tuesday, May 07, 2019 2:29 PM
To: oms_managers at listsmart.osl.state.or.us<mailto:oms_managers at listsmart.osl.state.or.us>
Subject: [OMS_MANAGERS] Big trucks on Main St?

Hello,

Are any of your organizations in a City that prohibits big trucks driving down their Main Street or thru their Historic District?

We have many logging trucks in particular that constantly use our Main Street and we are wondering how we could go about getting them to re-route around it?

Anybody on here that has dealt with something like this?

Thank you!
--
Jared Sidman
Main Street Coordinator
[Main Street Cottage Grove]
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