RUMFORD — Selectmen on Thursday are expected to discussing a complaint of trucks speeding Rumford Center on Route 2.
The issue was raised Feb. 18 at the first public hearing for ordinance requests or charter amendments by Gina Hinkley, spokeswoman for eight Rumford Center residents.
Hinkley said residents were hoping to enact a traffic ordinance addressing the speeding trucks and placement of a “No Engine Brakes” sign in the residential neighborhood.
Trucks, mostly logging and chip trucks, are exceeding the 35 mph speed limit through the village, where houses are close to each other and the road, she said. The River Valley Grill restaurant is also there.
“It’s no holds barred at night,” she said. “We’re talking 60 miles per hour and over. Houses shake. My windows are breaking.
“I don’t want to put anyone out of work or make anyone mad, but I haven’t slept since Sept. 19, 2014, since I moved in,” she said. “They average every seven minutes. I have videos. I have recordings. You can hear my house shake when trucks go by.”
The speed limit goes from 55 mph to 35 mph.
“When they see that 35-mile-per-hour sign, you hear the brakes all the way through the corner,” Hinkley said. “But they drive the route every single day. I know that Rumford Center is 35 miles per hour; I need to slow down long before I hit the sign. They know it’s 35,” she said.
Hinkley asked for the speed limit to be lowered to 25 mph.
Town Manager John Madigan said selectmen can request that the state Department of Transportation change the speed limit, but the town has no authority to regulate engine brakes because it’s a federal law.
Board Chairman Brad Adley said, “I think we all know that the trucks move through the town very fast. And there’s increased truck traffic, so I hear you.”
“I agree and symphasize with her,” Selectman Peter Chase added, “but this isn’t the forum to address that. We need to address that at a regular selectmen’s meeting.”
Madigan said, “We can check with DOT, if the board is willing, to see if they would lower it to 25. I think that’s the only thing that may be possible because it is quite congested there.”
“This isn’t unlike Rumford Point,” Selectman Jeff Sterling noted. “A couple years back, before the new bridge got built, we asked DOT to go through and just take a look, and they made a rather significant change.”
Regarding Rumford Center, he said, “I would guess, now with the diner being there, it seems to be a lot narrower there. I think it’s because of cars parked on both sides of the road.”
“If they’re speeding like this, where is the enforcement?” Selectman Mark Belanger asked.
Police Chief Stacy Carter said he asked his officers to step up enforcement there, but they have a lot of calls to respond to and don’t always have the time.
“Without fail, whether it’s Rumford Center or Rumford Point, Route 232 or South Rumford, anything on our outside loop, we’ll start to get out that way and we’ll get called back to town for a call,” he said.
Carter said he recently completed a grant application with the Bureau of Highway Safety for speed enforcement.
“We do have some money coming into town this summer for us to do specialized speed enforcement, which will encompass some of Route 2 and Route 5, and some of the areas where there’s been documented traffic crashes because of speed,” he said. “And we can do that because they’re paying for the extra manpower.”
Belanger suggested the town send letters regarding this issue to the chip and logging truck companies, whose trucks pass through Rumford Center.
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