City pauses broad truck-route plan; Cetegast pilot yields targeted signage recommendations
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Summary
Planning staff told council they are not advancing a citywide truck-route ordinance now because enforcement capacity is limited; a pilot in the Cetegast area produced recommendations focused on signage and intersection changes.
Council members pressing for a citywide truck-route plan were told by Planning and Development Department leadership that a large-scale truck-route ordinance is not being advanced at this time because effective enforcement is not available.
Von Tran, director of the Planning and Development Department, said the department completed a pilot study in the Cetegast area that produced recommendations and a package of signage and intersection changes. “We presented some solutions on one intersection, and we had a plan or a proposal for changing out some of the signs that were originally installed,” Tran said. He added that the pilot included traffic counts and neighborhood engagement and that some installed signs were not visible or effective, prompting revised proposals.
When asked whether the larger promised citywide truck-route plan would be pursued, Tran said the department is not moving forward on the citywide plan at present. He told council members the key barrier is enforcement: the city would likely need to assign police officers to enforce truck-route violations, and the department lacks the officer capacity to do that work now. “To have enforcement, we will need to move police officers tasked with other duties over to enforcing the truck routes… we just don't have enough officers,” Tran said.
Council members including Jackson and others expressed disappointment, saying neighborhoods — particularly in the Northeast and in District B — experience damage to local streets and safety concerns from heavy trucks. Council Member Jackson noted residents’ longstanding complaints about 18-wheelers operating in residential neighborhoods and urged the city to consider the full costs of damage, pollution and hazards when weighing enforcement resources.
Tran said the Cetegast pilot is being wrapped up and that recommendations from that pilot are expected to be implemented where appropriate; he distinguished the pilot’s localized signage and intersection fixes from the larger citywide ordinance that he said the department is not pursuing now.
Ending: The department will provide follow-up to council members on the Cetegast pilot recommendations and said it will need to coordinate enforcement strategy with the Police Department and Public Works before advancing a citywide truck-route enforcement plan.
