By David Fleet
dfleet@mihomepaper.com
Goodrich — On Monday night the Goodrich Village Council voted 4-0 to set a public hearing for the establishment of a truck route in the village. Council member Melissa Schluentz was absent. At 6 p.m., July 8, the Village of Goodrich, 7338 S. State Road will host the meeting to discuss heavy truck traffic in the village limits.
Chris Caverly, council member and street administrator said the need for a village truck ordinance is growing.
“Heavy trucks are damaging to the roads in the village,” said Caverly, who has driven trucks for more than 30 years. “In addition, we are trying to develop a more foot-traffic friendly downtown area. There’s children and families downtown on the sidewalks near Lippy’s Ice Cream and the Goodrich Commons area on Hegel Road. The truck traffic is getting heavy. Other towns in the state have heavy truck routes.”
According to the proposed ordinance, safety of the citizens, truck noise and vibration along with deterioration of those streets not designated for truck traffic are the focus of change.
The ordinance would restrict vehicles with a gross greater than 10,000 pounds. Some of the excluded vehicles would be school buses, emergency vehicles, motor homes, farm tractors, utility service vehicles, road construction vehicles, refuse trucks while making pick-ups within residential districts.
Mike Johnson, owner of Johnson and Son’s Excavating, 10025 Gale Road, Goodrich who owns a fleet of trucks including gravel trains, responded to the proposed ordinance at Monday’s meeting.
“This (ordinance) is going to pose a real hardship on the residents of Green Road and Perry Road,” said Johnson, indicating two possible alternative routes north and south of the village. “There’s no traffic lights at these intersections with M-15. Consider how long heavy trucks takes to get stopped and started. There’s going to be a lot of accidents at those intersections. I’m a landowner in the community too and concerned about the liability.”
“You need to think this ordinance through, before enacting,” he said. “Traffic lights at Green and Perry roads would be needed, so they would have a chance.”
Hegel Road is a Class A Road from the village limits all the way to M-15, he said.
“I’ve dug through Hegel Road and it’s a hard road,” he said.
Other considerations for a possible route would also include the Perry and Gale roads intersection in Atlas. In addition to sharp curves, the road also includes a stop sign at the top of hill, a possible challenge for trucks.