Tractor trailers were again the topic of conversation at the Erlanger City Council meeting after a semi-truck drove on Sycamore Tree Lane in the Cherry Hill subdivision — a street that cannot handle the size or weight of the trucks, even though mapping apps often direct drivers along the street formerly known as Erlanger Road.
Erlanger Council member Jennifer Jasper-Lucas brought up the issue of tractor-trailer semi-trucks traveling through the Cherry Hill subdivision at the regular city council meeting last week.
“I am sure some of you heard that two weeks ago another semi went through evidently in an evening and basically took out power and internet to almost the entire subdivision,” Jasper-Lucas said. “The only entrance/exit that was available for people to leave in the morning was Sycamore Tree because evidently Duke, or the utility companies had the other two entrances blocked to do the repairs. This time they took down some poles, they ran over a fire hydrant — it was pretty bad.”
Residents have voiced opposition to closing the road, though a permanent fix for the issue has not been decided upon.
Jasper-Lucas said there were a lot of residents who usually work from home and could not, telling her that they had to go out and find a place with internet so they could work.
She told council she was compiling a list of things to address such as: what is the main issue; what are the concurrent issues; where are the trucks coming in; where are they going; why are they coming in those ways; what solutions have they tried; what has worked; what hasn’t; and what other solutions have they not tried.
“It doesn’t appear that anything we have done has completely solved it,” Jasper-Lucas said. “There’s no way for us to know if it has impacted it. We still have semis driving through. Hopefully there’s fewer than there would have been had we not done anything, but the problem still exists. I’ve been told that there are literally residents that are getting into verbal confrontations with the truck drivers, which is very concerning as well.”
She brought up the fact that at a workshop back in the spring it was revealed that some of the trucks are coming down Queensway, a street which is in Boone County and leads into Cherry Hill. Jasper-Lucas said she has a list of 14 things that either they haven’t tried yet or haven’t exhausted. She suggested forming a task force.
She also mentioned that she has talked to a truck driver friend. She found out that there are a few other apps that truck drivers are using for directions, and they are definitely directing the truck drivers through Cherry Hill.
Jasper-Lucas thought if they could form a task force for a short time to keep an eye on the problem, make sure they get all the signage up, and keep in touch with the residents and businesses to make sure they are on top of the situation, it would be a good thing.
Police Chief Kyle Rader said he hadn’t heard from residents in the Cherry Hill subdivision for some time.
“I do know the one last week that took out the power, I do know that did come from Queensway,” Rader said. “We went back and looked, and either the residents aren’t calling, or we really haven’t had that many (incidents). I think in the last six months we had two that I’m aware of. I know the one last week obviously that was a big one because it did take down some power lines and cable. But from our perspective we thought that it had pretty much calmed down.”
He said he had a resident on Sycamore Tree who used to call him whenever she saw a truck to complain about the situation with the trucks, and he said he hasn’t heard from her in a long time.
He told council that the truck last week that caused so many problems was able to get extricated and left the scene. Rader said that they caught up to him behind the Coca-Cola plant, but that was the first documented time that Coke truck was involved.
“One of the problems is that many times a truck that comes in and causes damage has never been here before and probably won’t be back in this area,” Rader said. “We have talked to the businesses and their regular drivers know not to go that way, but other truck drivers who aren’t familiar with the area just follow the app. We finally got Apple and Google maps to change their directions, but now we are finding that there are other apps so it’s kind of a never-ending battle.”
He was referring to the fact that semis used to be directed into Cherry Hill on a regular basis in the past, chiefly because Google and Apple maps have directed them that way via GPS. The city has tried several possible remedies to stop the trucks from going into the subdivision because they get stuck, can’t turn around, and end up causing a lot of damage.
Rader said that they first put up a sign on Erlanger Road, which runs off North Houston, and then they put up more signs, but the trucks paid no attention to them. Then Public Works redesigned the intersection, putting in trees and mulch and giant boulders to make the turn steeper to discourage the truckers. Finally, Public Works put in semi-permanent plastic reflective ballards, which are more difficult to ignore.
At one point a truck driver ran over a boulder and dragged it several feet down the street.
“From my understanding I believe as of this week the maps have been updated at Apple that’s what I have been told,” Rader said. Addressing Jasper-Lucas, he said, “Yeah, if people are reaching out to you, we would like to hear it because we were under the impression that it had kind of gone away.”
Jasper-Lucas said that whenever people ask her if they should report it to the police, she tells them yes, so it can be documented. She said in the last six months people have been sending her pictures and videos of situations where the trucks have not been stuck, but it shows the trucks still going into places they are not allowed to be. She said her friend the trucker said that even when he was using Google maps, it still told him to turn where he was not supposed to turn. That is a reason she thought if they had a task force, they could deal with these problems.
Councilmember Rebecca Reckers said it wouldn’t hurt to have a small task force and talk to Boone County Fiscal court about signage. Other council members agreed to be on the task force.
Mayor Jessica Fette thought if Jasper-Lucas has 14 suggestions for making the situation better, she should send them to Rader so he can get started on them right away.
“If you’ve got 14 ideas, let’s roll with them,” Fette said.
Rader thought the negative about doing anything permanent in that area might interfere with a reconstruction plan in the area, and Fette agreed, saying the state has plans for the reconstruction of North Houston. She said since the state will close the entrance from Erlanger Road into Cherry Hill, the city wanted to see what effect the closure would have on residents and truck drivers.
Fines had been suggested, but Rader said that since most trucks are here for a one-time drop, it is difficult to catch them to fine them.
“I think as soon as the state gets started working on North Houston, they will close the entrance to Erlanger Road temporarily because I think they are going to widen the lanes,” Rader said. “I think everyone is curious to find out if they shut the entrance down, will the other apps catch up and update their information.”
