WEATHERSFIELD West Liberty Street residents try again to ban truck traffic

WEATHERSFIELD -- Residents of West Liberty Street are petitioning local officials to act to eliminate truck traffic on their road, which runs parallel to Interstate 80 near Girard.
The petitions, sent this week to township and county officials and state representatives, is the latest skirmish in the years-long war between homeowners on the street and heavy 18-wheelers rumbling past.
"They fly," said James Sweeney, who circulated petitions. "If someone is backing out of their driveway, there is no way they are going to stop."
The petitions, signed by Sweeney and 19 of his neighbors, call for trucks to be banned from their street, or permitted only during certain hours.
They also ask for more enforcement of speed limits.
In 1999, Trumbull County Engineer John Latell tried banning through truck traffic from the road, by posting "No Thru Trucks" signs.
LAS Recycling, which has a landfill nearby, took the county to court and won the signs' removal, Latell said.
In 1999, the engineer's office also paid $4,000 to have core samples taken of the road, to see if it was being damaged by the trucks. If the road was being harmed, a reducing the allowable truck weight on the road could be in order, Latell said.
The tests showed the road is fine.
"I really don't know what I could do, unless we go to court again," he said.