Trucks would take a toll

I was glad to see that the Summer Street truck route has been ended. I would suggest that if or when the issue resurfaces, there are at least two concerns that perhaps were not addressed in this recent consideration, or least I didn’t see references to them in newspaper articles.

One: the additional pollutants from the diesel exhaust arising when trucks wait for two additional lights to change, along with the extra time needed to make up to four 90-degree turns. In particular, the Summer Street-Route 14 light has a very long cycle if one is going straight on Route 14. (I trust that that light will either be set to blinking or at least have its computerized cycle changed to an on-demand.)

Two: the necessity of having to resurface (rebuild?) Summer Street. If the truck route is reinstituted, I would expect that street surface would wear down rather quickly. After spending the sum of money that’s been spent on North Main Street to create a heavy-wear surface, it seems less than wise to reroute the city’s heaviest traffic to a street that was not built for it.

Cherie Staples

East Montpelier