Main Street IS the truck route. It's City Hall that's the problem.

A question: "Are semi-trailers 'officially' not allowed to be using streets like 13th (and Spring) now, and if no, then is anyone in city government trying to get an ordinance passed or address the problem?

My answer:

As far as the city is concerned, at least in terms of its public pronouncements -- these being almost non-existent -- there is no problem that needs solving.

According to the city, Main Street was "improved," but not so as to divert truck traffic. According to the city, the intent of the project is now the reality of the project.

Obviously, those of us residing on or near these streets know from daily observation that the city's "no diversion" intent represented strained credulity from the outset, and that reality has been quite different from Adam's world-according-to-Disneyland for the past ten months, or more.

We know that (a) in one specific instance, this being Tiger Trucking, heavy truck traffic HAS been diverted, and (b) this diversion has been worsened by daily cavalcades of dump truck traffic passing through NA from Jeff bridge construction sites to the I-64 interstate ramps.

I've taken hundreds of photographs to document this phenomenon, to which City Hall has "replied" with a pose like this:

I'm not devoid of human feelings, and I understand that it must be difficult to be caught so openly in a lie. The majority of people in New Albany over the age of puberty know that historically, all of this truck traffic was supposed to be using Main Street, period. Now, since the supposedly non-diversionary beautification project, much of it is not, and if the city concedes this fact, then it must also concede that it has spent the past year lying about the Main Street project.

So, nothing has been proposed to deal with the heavy truck problem, precisely because the city won't admit to there being a problem, at least publicly.

To me, a solution is the essence of simplicity: Reaffirm the historic travel pattern, restore the old "truck route" signage that used to stand at Spring & Vincennes, and use the NAPD to enforce the truck route, rather than pretend it ever will write speeding tickets to truck drivers -- because it won't.

Yes, this puts pass-through trucks back on Main Street, and yes, this means the city lied to Main Street residents all along about its beautification intent.

But do you know what?

City Hall didn't take the remainder of downtown into consideration when the Main Street fluff-back boondoggle was initiated, and what's more, went ahead with a $2 million-plus construction project diametrically opposed to the interest of the street grid as a whole. Consequently, City Hall's lies to the good folks on Main Street are their problem, not ours. Hopefully, Main Streeters will recall the ill-considered treatment they've gotten when election time rolls around.