West St. Catherine Neighborhood Association

I am fed up, as are many of you, with the plethora of semi/large trucks that take the WSC exit and seriously diminish the peaceful enjoyment of our homes and property. I have started keeping a tally of the number of trucks that I can hear and FEEL from inside my home as I try to work. I have also been emailing Councilman Unseld on a weekly basis. Below is my first message. Please email Unseld as well at Donna.Sanders@louisvilleky.gov.

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From: Jessica McCarty [mailto:jessica_mccarty@hotmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 9:39 AM
To: Sanders, Donna B
Subject: semi trucks on West St Catherine



Hi Donna,

I spoke with you last Tuesday about the truck problem that we face in Old Louisville, especially on West St Catherine Street (WSC). I want to thank you for taking down my concerns and appreciate the work that Councilman Unseld's office does for our district. However, I am writing you again to urge further action, whether through prohibiting trucks on the WSC exit or changing the timing of the lights on WSC to reduce the speed of traffic and thus making it less advantageous for large turcks to drive down our street. I am writing you again because the last few days have been particularly taxing. I am a researcher that telecommutes from home, thus I am around this traffic problem at all times. I have kept a tally the last 4 days how many times semi trucks braking outside my home at the corner of WSC and 4th have shaken my building. The average is 30 times a day, from 6 AM to 6 PM. Sometimes the shaking is so bad that I can feel it while I'm running on my treadmill on the third floor! What do you think this shaking is doing to the foundation of my home (which was built in 1895) and other homes on West Saint Catherine? Even as I write this message, I can hear the semi trucks outside over NPR and my pups playing and feel my floors shake occassionally.

But the worst incident came yesterday when I was walking my dogs around noon. As I was trying to cross WSC at the crosswalk on 3rd street, a semi truck almost ran over both of my dogs and me. The driver was running a red light (this is common because running a red light means that the driver will get green lights all the way until 7th street). I was able to pull my dogs back quickly and the driver veered into the other lane, all the while blowing his horn at me. I had the right of way and the walk sign. This is not the first time that a semi truck has nearly hit me as I am walking, with my pets or my husband, and I am sure it will not be the last unless action is taken to preserve the Old Louisville Historic Neighborhood, and West Saint Catherine, as a RESIDENTIAL area - not a cut through for trucks hauling cars, chemicals, toxic waste, and other large cargo. Please pass my concerns onto Councilman Unseld. Thank you.

Jessica

No Through Truck Traffic on WSC!

Come on WSCNA: if we stand together, we can effect some real change in the amount of through truck traffic in our historic district! Let's take Jessica's lead, and do as she proposes --document the problem, and then call and e-mail our Councilperson to let him know that excessive truck traffic is a real quality of life issue for the neighborhood, and that the time for action is now.

Stop the semi truck traffic!

Dear Transportation and Public Works Committee,

I'd like to echo the concerns Ms. McCarty expresses below. I also live on West Saint Catherine Street and suffer the noise, vibration, and safety concerns of commercial traffic passing my historic home. When I sit down to a meal in my dining room, the windows and in fact the whole house shakes every time a semi truck drives by. In my block, between 6th and 7th Streets, trucks drive by every few minutes. On this narrow residential street with cars parked on both sides of the street, there is not room for a semi to drive in one lane; they routinely take up both lanes of traffic and this is a two way street! It really is a safety hazard to other drivers, not to mention people entering and exiting their parked cars. Please also refer to Ms. McCarty's experience with trucks endangering pedestrians.

I ask that you pursue a restriction against commercial traffic (or at least semi trucks) in this historic district. Our neighborhood association has asked the police to assist us with this problem before but made no headway; we were told that commercial traffic is 'supposed to' take I-65 to I-64 west and exit on 9th Street to access the industrial area to our west rather than exiting I-65 at Saint Catherine Street and cutting through our neighborhood, as they do now. Apparently this expectation isn't being communicated or enforced on commercial haulers.

Something has got to be done to correct this situation. I realize this is a difficult goal, but I'm betting you are up to the challenge! Please help us reclaim our neighborhood from commercial hauling.

I will make myself available to assist in any way I can. Please let me know what we need to do.

Thanks!
Rosemary Gilbertson



By Rosemary Gilbertson

PLEASE TAKE ACTION!!!!

Hello neighbors! Please take action on this. Nothing will change unless everyone complains. If you have submitted a response to this discussion, be sure to email your response to Councilman Unseld. Email Donna Sanders (assistant to Councilman Unseld) at Donna.Sanders@louisvilleky.gov. You can also call her at 574-3910.

THANKS!!!! :)