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Residents urge city action to curb heavy truck traffic on Broad Street
Summary
Multiple Broad Street residents told the City Council that truck traffic resumed after resurfacing and urged changes including clearer local-truck-only signage, lower speed limits (requested 25 mph), targeted enforcement, and updates to commercial maps and GPS routing to keep semis out of the neighborhood.
Residents of North Broad Street urged the Fremont City Council on Jan. 27 to take concrete steps to reduce heavy truck traffic they say returned after recent construction.
Ellen Lund, who gave her address as 1929 North Broad Street, said signage on 23rd and Broad points truck drivers toward Broad but does not indicate the Ordinance 5708 restriction to local trucks only, and she asked the council to change signs, lower the posted speed (she said "we'd love 25, but we could live with 30"), add a pedestrian-controlled crossing at 19th and Broad and step up enforcement. "If we on Broad Street must make peace with some local trucks on Broad Street, it should truly be local trucks that are willing to follow our traffic speed limits," Lund said.
Jean Chaplair recounted the jurisdictional transfer from NDOT and urged the council to use that authority to adopt truck-district rules and weight limits (she suggested "maybe 26,000 pounds"), implement legally enforceable signage, consider lane-narrowing or turn restrictions and traffic-calming measures, and submit authoritative data to mapping providers so commercial navigation systems steer trucks away from Broad Street.
Other speakers amplified safety concerns. Loretta Maestro said the street now carries many semis and cited three semi-related deaths over the previous year; she warned of a potential hazmat incident and asked, "Please do something about it." Don Atwell offered options ranging from reclassifying Broad Street as a US Highway 77 business and rebuilding it for heavy trucks to lowering speed limits and adding four-way stops so trucks would instead use the south beltway.
The public commenters recommended a mix of legal, physical and enforcement measures: adopt or refine ordinances to allow weight limits and truck districts; change and enforce signage; coordinate with mapping companies (Google, TomTom, Apple Maps, OpenStreetMap) so routing reflects truck restrictions; and consider engineering fixes such as speed reductions, stop controls, lane narrowing or humps.
The mayor and council received the public comments during the public-comment period; council members later removed multiple items from the consent agenda for separate consideration. The council did not adopt new truck-specific ordinances during the meeting; next steps would require staff follow-up and, if the council directs, ordinance drafting and formal votes at a later meeting.
Ending: Residents concluded their comments by asking for faster municipal action on signage, enforcement and planning to protect pedestrians, nearby parks and homes along Broad Street.
