Quincy truck route revisions go into effect next week
A truck fuels up at a station on Division Street North in Quincy. Division will be among the routes that can be used by heavy vehicles under new rules that go into effect next week.
COURTESY IMAGE/GOOGLE MAPS
QUINCY — Signs will be going up early next week alerting truck drivers to revisions of the allowable “heavy vehicle routes” throughout the city of Quincy. Some streets that could be used by trucks are now off-limits, a move that Quincy Engineer Ariel Belino said was prompted by growth and changes in traffic patterns.
“Revisions are necessary due to development within the city, and certain routes are now located in areas where pedestrian traffic is heavy, (there are) school zones or dense residential areas,” Belino said during the regular Quincy City Council meeting Oct. 21.
“We would like to separate the pedestrian traffic from the truck routes,” Belino said in an earlier interview.
Quincy city officials have been discussing new truck routes since the spring; trucks have been using streets that are no longer compatible with truck use, said Quincy Public Works Director Carl Worley in an earlier interview.
He cited Central Avenue North, sections of which have been rebuilt to make them more inviting to pedestrians. Quincy also is growing to the north, and a lot of housing has been added between the BNSR tracks and the city limits.
“It’s really, really tricky,” Worley said.
Trucks will still be allowed to use Central Street South and turn left or right onto State Route 28 (or F Street Southeast and Southwest). Trucks will be allowed on Third Avenue Southeast to access Division Street East, as well as Eighth Avenue Southeast and Columbia Way to access Division Street.
Division Street will be a truck route along its entire length; trucks can also use B Street Southwest between Division and the roundabout on SR 28 at 13th Street Northwest. Trucks can use 13th Street north of the roundabout, but not south. D Street Northwest between Central Avenue and 13th Street was added as a truck route because it provides access to some of the data centers in Quincy, Worley said.
Sixth Avenue Northeast was removed as a truck route, but trucks making deliveries there or along Central Avenue North will still be allowed, Worley said. A section of M Street Northeast to Columbia Way was added, which also provides access to data centers and other businesses in that area.
A section of A Street Northeast between Central Avenue and Road 10.5 NW was already designated as a truck route and will remain that way. Some businesses along that road have substantial truck traffic.