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May 7, 2004
Residents fume over Malibou traffic
By MARK WAITE The frequent sound of trucks passing their home led his wife, Edie Davies, to joke about whether a reporter was interested in buying their house. Other residents on Malibou Street are also upset, 20 people signed a petition asking for an ordinance banning truck traffic on that street, which is a shortcut from the gravel pits east of Highway 160 to Gamebird Road. "It's like living in a construction zone," Edie Davies said. "You can hear them a quarter of a mile away when they turn onto this street." "It's not only the dust and the dirt it's the diesel fumes," said neighbor Marge VanGeel. Terry Davies charged the drivers with violating local laws. "They say 45 mph, well they're exceeding 45 mph. Plus there isn't one coming by this morning that had a cover on top," he said. Charlie VanGeel said he was told by a contractor who delivered stones to their home that Malibou was a truck route. The Davies compiled a list of all the contractors using the street, which includes most Pahrump companies: Pahrump Concrete, Ron Murphy Construction, Paul Moore Sand and Gravel, Strickland Construction, Borasky Excavating, Carlson Rock Depot, DBE, Mr. Clean, Dump Truck Service, Wrightway Trucking, Jim Pike Well Drilling, Floyd's Construction, Bolling Construction and J.D. Jones. Edie Davies said one major contractor, Wulfenstein Construction, hasn't been using Malibou Street. The list includes 18-wheelers, dump trucks, cement trucks, trucks with trailers, double bottom dump trucks, and double-double bottom dump trucks, construction equipment on low boys and water trucks. It wasn't too difficult to get a photo of another truck driving down the street, just wait several minutes. Marge VanGeel said a few days previously, trucks were going by every seven minutes. She complained her grandchildren couldn't play outside. "If they could deliver (fill) in this area they're legal but they're not. They're' using it as an arterial highway," said Terry Davies. The Davies didn't get much encouraging news from local officials and planners, who indicated the truck traffic could get worse, or may taper off if growth slows down in Pahrump Valley. "It starts at six (a.m.) and it goes seven days a week. Even Christmas time they were coming down," Edie Davies said. "People are tired of this from early in the morning until late at night." "It's definitely not a through street, it starts at Gamebird and ends at Alfalfa," Terry Davies said. A neighbor checked the speed of the trucks with a radar gun, the Davies said. Terry Davies said the truck traffic could be wearing down the pavement as well, noting streets in California have an 18-inch compact base to carry trucks with a load limit of 72,000 pounds. Nye County Public Works Director Samson Yao said the only solution would be for the county to pass an ordinance forbidding truck traffic on that street. Jim Talbert, project planning director for Tri-Core Engineering, said the current phase of the master plan includes a streets and highways plan, but he said Malibou is a section line street, an arterial. Talbert said he put the residents in touch with Rich DeLong, who is working on the Pahrump Valley dust control plan with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "Malibou is classified as an arterial because it's a mile (long) street. So it being an arterial, trucks are allowed to go on that street," Talbert said. "The county can say that certain roads are off limits to trucks. That is within their prerogative." Talbert said other roads in Pahrump Valley are designated collector roads and local roads. He said it's possible some of the less traveled local roads may have restrictions on truck traffic after the streets and highways plan is adopted. "There is an intent for each of the road types. You can't ban trucks completely from even local streets," Talbert said. He said that's because homes have to be built on streets, that requires construction trucks. "You can restrict certain roads as travel routes and those you want to really stick to, your mile streets, your section line streets." The Davies caught the ear of Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo at a county commission meeting April 20. DeMeo said he sent members of the volunteer sheriff's department auxiliary unit to monitor the traffic. DeMeo said he personally stopped a truck driver with an uncovered load on Malibou Street, charging drivers with using the side streets to avoid the law. "What's been happening is they've been stopped on the highways. What they're doing now is they're taking a side street because they don't believe we're patrolling a side street," DeMeo said. The sheriff said haulers are trying to get to construction sites with as much fill as possible. DeMeo said initially he gave construction companies a grace period to comply with the new county covered load ordinance to buy the proper equipment. "There's no excuse now. We've been looking at the covered loads, we've been stopping vehicles," DeMeo said. Rachel Moore, owner of Paul Moore's Sand and Gravel Company, said they don't drive down Malibou Street all the time, only when they have a job in that direction. They're currently working on projects on Unicorn and Winchester streets . Truck drivers used Malibou Street long before people like the Davies and VanGeels moved in, she said. "It has been (a truck route) for probably 20 years, long before any houses were developed there. That was one of the main routes, to stay away from traffic as much as possible, long before any residential homes were there," Moore said. Moore recalled getting a call from an irate woman two years ago asking her drivers not to use Malibou Street. She said it's a better alternative than using crowded valley roads. "Look at the traffic problem already on Homestead and 160. Imagine the problem with 70-foot trucks stuck there," Moore said. As for the covered loads, Moore said a federal Interstate Commerce Commission law supersedes any state and local laws. The uncovered loads were all right, she said, "as long as they were controlled, they weren't falling off. "As long as they're not speeding or driving recklessly I don't see there should be a problem," Moore said. "The original gravel pits sit up there and you usually try to take that route to stay away from traffic." Terry Davies, a former heavy equipment operator at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in California, listened as a truck driver activated the "Jake brake" to slow down approaching Gamebird Road. "And this is a slow day. We have them passing sometimes," Edie Davies said. "We're not against growth or against the construction industry. We just don't want them here," Terry Davies said. |
