By SHELLEY TERRY - Staff Writer - sterry@starbeacon.com
ASHTABULA — Nathan Avenue residents are up in arms over speeders, big trucks and a flagrant disregard for bicyclists on their street.
Longtime resident Jeanette Guile complained Monday night to City Council.
“Nathan Avenue is terrible,” she said. “Dump trucks are going south, speeding on our street. I’m really upset. They shouldn’t go up and down our street. We need something done. We need a sign.”
Plagued by speeding trucks, one day Guile said she couldn’t take it any more.
“I flew off my porch and stopped a big truck,” she said. “I wouldn’t let him come down.”
Guile stood her ground right in the middle of the street.
City Manager Anthony Cantagallo said he doesn’t want to see Guile injured, although her concern is appreciated.
Ward 5 Councilman James Trisket wants a “No trucks” sign erected.
“Nathan (Avenue) is not a short cut,” he said.
Guile’s husband, Victor, said his street is a racetrack.
“All of a sudden — zoom!” he said. “It’s terrible.”
Motorists, including truck drivers, may be using Nathan Avenue as a way to get around West Avenue. The busy thoroughfare is closed to allow workers to build a $10.1 million bridge that will lift vehicle traffic over two sets of railroad tracks.
The overpass finally will give the city’s safety and rescue
forces an uninterrupted route to southside neighborhoods.
According to the Ohio Department of Transportation, the official detour takes drivers to Route 84 to West 48th Street to Park Avenue to Center Street to Route 20. This will continue until late August 2010.
Nathan Avenue is not part of the detour, ODOT officials said.
Victor Guiles reminds motorists bicyclists also frequent Nathan Avenue as part of the Greenway Trail.
“The trail crosses Nathan Avenue,” he said. “People need to slow down.”
Trisket said, “They also speed down Perryville Place.”
Jackie Evans, 9, of the West 58th Street neighborhood, rides her bicycle all summer long.
“The cars go by so fast it blows my hair,” she said. “Sometimes, it’s scary.”
Ashtabula Police Chief Rob Stell said his officers will increase patrol in the area.
