ATLANTA — A new effort to eliminate illegal truck traffic on a prominent Atlanta road is getting mixed reviews. City officials say it’s starting work. Residents along Moores Mill Road say the problem seems to continue to worsen.
"It’s very loud. It’s very dangerous," said Maureen Becker, a nine-year resident of Moores Mill Road. Her street sounds and feels like a major Atlanta thoroughfare during a weekday morning visit.
Yet the northwest Atlanta street is in an old neighborhood lined with single family homes.
"There’s nothing but homes. There’s no commercialized property on this stretch of road," said Debra Leigh Jowers, who lives in the neighborhood dominated by Moores Mill.
Signs on the route warn that it’s illegal to drive trucks here with more than six wheels. Large trucks are exempt if they're making local deliveries. Residents say the law is all but ignored.
As we spoke, giant trucks with 10 to 18 wheels passed by.
"These illegal trucks create an intimidating environment for the residents here," Jowers said.
Moores Mill connects a junction with I-75 at one end, and a big new commercial development on the other. Moores Mill is the cut-through.
"With that expansion at the end of our street, and with that expansion of the road came 30 percent more traffic overnight," Becker estimated.
City Councilman Dustin Hillis says the city has stepped up illegal truck enforcement and is examining ways to tamp down traffic.
"Traffic calming, things like that," Hillis said. He predicted Moores Mill would retain its residential character, but that traffic issues will never completely go away as long as there's an I-75 interchange nearby.
"Are we a residential street? Or are we just a pass-through?" asked Becker. "If we are just a pass-through, then let us turn this (zoning) commercial. Let us sell our houses as commercial property."