Metro Responds to Traffic Complaints, Prohibits Big Trucks from Using Busy Salemtown Street

Yesterday Metro Public Works put up signs on 5th Avenue North prohibiting trucks weighing over 5,000 pounds from using the street. That action comes after months of complaints by Salemtown residents about the hazards of some large 18-wheelers coming and going from the Werthan Packing Plant, but cutting through a neighborhood (via 5th and Garfield) with a high number of children at play rather than taking Hume Street to Rosa Parks in order to reach I-65 (which is a wider, more navigable route). Public Works officials told the Salemtown block grant advisory committee last month that they would look for solutions to calm the traffic and redirect dangerous trucks around the neighborhood, and it looks like they have made some progress on follow-through.