What's the deal with heavy trucking on Saugus' residential streets?
Margaret ONeil Lankow is looking for the town to crack down on tractor-trailers that have been using local streets through Saugus Center and Cliftondale Square. Lankow said she began to notice an increase in 18-wheelers and 22-wheelers many months ago. On June 7, Lankow counted four tractor-trailers that drove through Saugus Center during one hour in the morning. Two weeks later, she spotted four tractor-trailers in the area of Main Street and Hamilton Street during a 20-minute stretch. Lankow appeared before the Board of Selectmen to voice her frustration as to why heavy trucks are allowed to rumble through residential streets. Main Street, Hamilton Street, Saville Street, Central Street, Winter Street, Essex Street and Lincoln Avenue are among the streets that Lankow has seen tractor-trailers driving on. She noted that those are residential streets as opposed to state routes on which heavy trucking is permitted. Last year, Lankow said she followed one of the trucks that drove into a scrap metal business on the Lynnway. Heavy trucking can cause noise pollution, Lankow said, sharing that from her Twin Springs Drive home she often hears the trucks shifting gears on nearby Hamilton Street. In addition, Lankow asserted that heavy trucks can lead to air pollution, negatively impact road surfaces and present public safety issues. I dont see why they should be using our streets . . . Im asking the town manager and Board of Selectmen if there are any means to stop this heavy trucking that is constantly going through Saugus, Lankow said. Lankow suggested the town ban heavy trucking on residential streets and direct trucks to use Route 107 and Route 1 to get to their destinations. Town response  Town Manager Scott Crabtree asked Lankow to share the company names of the trucks she recorded to help determine if they were haulers going to and from Aggregate Industries off Route 99. A specific truck route has been worked for trucks accessing and departing Aggregate Industries as part of the facilitys post-closure plan, Crabtree said. Aggregate Industries wants to find out if any of the trucks using residential streets are the haulers they contract with, Crabtree said. Selectman Michael Serino sent correspondence to Crabtree in which he reported seeing four trucks entering Saugus from Boston Street in Lynn during the last week of May, with three of the trucks passing through Cliftondale Square and the other heading up Hamilton Street. All the trucks looked like they were delivering fill material to Aggregate Industries, Serino explained. The situation of tractor-trailers using residential streets is very dangerous, Serino said, noting the town worked out an agreement with Aggregate in the past for haulers to travel from Western Avenue to Walnut Street and onto Route 1. Crabtree pointed out it is very difficult to restrict heavy trucking on main roads unless there is an alternate route and an engineered traffic study has been completed. Otherwise every community would say we dont want any heavy trucks, Crabtree said. Selectman Debra Panetta agreed that tractor-trailers coming down local streets is a problem. Panetta said an 18-wheeler nearly hit her recently at the intersection of Hesper Street and Hamilton Street. I thought that was it for me, Panetta said. Panetta said she would like to look into if heavy trucks can utilize alternate routes such as Route 1 and Route 107 and steer clear of local residential streets. Selectman Corinne Riley cited the speed of tractor-trailers through Cliftondale Square and Lincoln Avenue as an issue that needs to be addressed. If we cant reroute them, lets enforce the speed limit, Riley said. Its a very serious situation how fast they are going.