As a resident of Southgate off of Frates Rd., I am literally losing sleep over the ENDLESS truck traffic that is roaring up and down Frates Rd.! Last night, from midnight to 3:00 AM, I laid awake in bed as gravel truck after gravel truck went by! Most of them are Chavez trucks, out of Dixon, CA. Does anybody know why they are continuously traveling through the residential streets of Petaluma at all hours of the day and night? More importantly, is there anything I can do about this? Frates has a speed limit of 45 MPH and there are just too many trucks on it. Why can they not be forced to STAY ON State Route 116 instead of shortcutting down Frates?! That would instead take them south a mere few miles and across at Stage Gulch Rd, which is mostly ranches that sit back from the road a considerable distance. I know trucks have used Frates for a long time but now that Petaluma has grown and housing developments have sprung up on both sides of Frates, is it incorrect to think that the traffic laws should be adjusted/modified to provide solace to those living in the housing along Frates? The speed limit should be lowered and trucks over a certain weight should be forced to use the State Rte 116. This area is no longer just farm fields but residential neighborhoods. Is there anything that can be done? Can it be taken to City Council? Why can't truck traffic be forced to stay on Rte 37 and the 101, instead of saving a mile or two by cutting across from the 80 to the 101 through Napa, Sonoma and Petaluma?
You are joking, right? I can understand your frustration. We deal with trucks ON our residential street, not one street over, at all hours of the day and night. And this is despite signs specifying that trucks are not allowed on our street.
Quite honestly, if they were driving up and down through the streets of Southgate, I would agree with your complaint. However, they're not. They're driving up and down the same stretch of road/highway that they always have. Based on the condition and width of the road, Stage Gulch does not seem like a logical route. I would hate to think that one would suggest semi drivers use a narrow unmaintained road and risk their safety because a newly developed neighborhood doesn't like the sound of their trucks.
I think that this falls under the due diligence process that is the buyers responsibility. It was no surprise that the Southgate homes were built next to a high traffic area. Hence the sound barrier wall that they had to build. The parcel of land that Southgate is built on was grandfathered into the city if I recall correctly. This is part of the reason that it wasn't developed sooner, although many tried.
You can call the company that owns the trucks that are bothering you so much. Since you aren't sleeping anyway, you could sit out and wait for them. Most companies request that you provide the truck number of the driver you are complaining about. It seems like it might be easier to deal with it. Your tolerance for the noise should build over time and at some point, should you still be living there, you won't even notice them. I on the other hand, would be more worried about stray bullets flying out of the Lakeville Apartment complex.
Though you may not have intended them to be, your comments are insensitive and borderline offensive, on several levels?!
We live up against the sound wall, a scant 20-25 feet from Frates Rd. Yes, we did give thought to the possibility of a lot of traffic noise when we purchased the home here but did NOT expect semi after semi after semi in the middle of the night? Trucks should not be permitted to drive at speeds of 45 MPH through residential neighborhoods. While Stage Gulch Rd. is a more challenging road to the truck drivers, it is a clearly marked State Rte. If they cannot handle it, perhaps they should not be driving trucks? Or better yet, just stick to the Interstates and solve all of the problems.
Nice comment on the racial diversity that live in the Apartment Complex too...pretty rude really.
BTW, in the five minutes that I have been typing this reply, six semis went by. Almost ten o'clock at night. WHY?! (Make that 9 now ... three in a caravan just went by!!!)
Originally posted by Stmba: Though you may not have intended them to be, your comments are insensitive and borderline offensive, on several levels?!
We live up against the sound wall, a scant 20-25 feet from Frates Rd. Yes, we did give thought to the possibility of a lot of traffic noise when we purchased the home here but did NOT expect semi after semi after semi in the middle of the night? Trucks should not be permitted to drive at speeds of 45 MPH through residential neighborhoods. While Stage Gulch Rd. is a more challenging road to the truck drivers, it is a clearly marked State Rte. If they cannot handle it, perhaps they should not be driving trucks? Or better yet, just stick to the Interstates and solve all of the problems.
Nice comment on the racial diversity that live in the Apartment Complex too...pretty rude really.
BTW, in the five minutes that I have been typing this reply, six semis went by. Almost ten o'clock at night. WHY?! (Make that 9 now ... three in a caravan just went by!!!)
Stmba, Wow I guess someone is sensitive to how someone responded to your post. It sounds like you didn’t do your due diligence when you purchased your cookie cutter house in the Southgate subdivision; I guess you should have spent more time checking out that subdivision and questioned the builder on the sound barrier wall they built around your precious subdivision. While checking out local real estate in Petaluma I found a foreclosed home for like 350K half of what people purchased a house for in the Southgate Subdivision. I bet you got a sweet deal from Delco Builders on the house so close to Frates Road. The semi trucks have traveled on that stretch of road long before your subdivision was ever thought of. May be you should go to CVS and buy some ear plugs. I think I smell a trucker convention coming to the Southgate housing track. Yes in fact it is time for a convention and have all truckers drive a semi in to one of those parks for a bbq in the subdivision and up and down every street. Odds are truck traffic will always travel by Southgate. Have you ever thought that the trucks you are complaining about could be doing a construction project to make Petaluma or one of the surrounding areas better probably not. Have you called and formed a complaint with the trucking company itself I guess you probably didn’t may be if you called they could advise the drivers to be more courteous while driving on Frates road. Plus there is really no way for a truck from a complete stop at Ely road to hit 45 mph by the time the semi reaches the center of the Southgate Subdivision. Find something worth complaining about or do something positive with your time, the truck traffic is here to stay and will not go away just because one person doesn’t like it. Semi trucks operate 24/7 365 days a year that is a part of America we have to get products from one place to another. Like I said before you didn’t do your full due diligence when you purchased your home so that is your problem not everyone else’s and not the truckers fault of the placement of your home so close to a major road artery into Petaluma. I don’t like the placement of the transit bus mall but have learned to make the best of it. May be every truck that drives by Southgate should blare the air horn at all times of day and night.
Just wait until the trains start blowing there horns in a few months! The other poster was right, you purchased your home next to a major road and now your complaining about the noise. Every time I drive down Frates Rd. I wonder how those people in Southgate can live so close to that road, good luck trying to sell your home!
I understand your frustration Stmba, but the old timers are right. Frates road has long been the preferred trucking route because Stage Gulch is unsafe for large trucks. At least this is what my cousin who is a driver for Clover Stornetta dairy tells me, and he has to travel between Southern Sonoma and west of Petaluma daily. His biggest gripe is that when they put in your subdivision is that they put in a stoplight there to allow residents access to Frates without waiting for traffic to pass. This severely slows down through traffic on Frates including the many truckers who use this route, and if they were allowed to pass unhindered they would make less noise. It's the breaking, downshifting, stopping and starting up again that makes all the noise. I've never seen any traffic get up to 45mph in that stretch because of the traffic light backup. As has been said, it's the home purchaser's responsibility to check these things out before buying. That's why my family bought in a quiet northeast subdivision. This stretch has been been the prescribed trucking route since long before your parcel was built on.
I also live in southgate and have noticed quite a bit of noise. It doesn't really bother us here because we're a couple streets over but I couldn't imagine being over next to frates. It's not trucks roaring by that is the problem, it's the stop light at browns and frates. Anytime a truck stops and starts it makes more noise. There is a sign I noticed the other day between lakeville and southgate that says something about engine braking prohibited but it's way too small for anyone to see.
Posts: 22 | Location: Petaluma | Registered: 12 February 2009
Originally posted by dhansell22: I also live in southgate and have noticed quite a bit of noise. It doesn't really bother us here because we're a couple streets over but I couldn't imagine being over next to frates. It's not trucks roaring by that is the problem, it's the stop light at browns and frates. Anytime a truck stops and starts it makes more noise. There is a sign I noticed the other day between lakeville and southgate that says something about engine braking prohibited but it's way too small for anyone to see.
They should post a large sign that says no air, or engine braking like other areas that have large development happening near existing residential, than post an officer in the evening at least one day a week so truckers know the sign is serious.
How about removing the stop light? The people that live in Southgate can easily turn left when traffic allows, otherwise they can simply turn right. Or they can have a right turn only sign, as they do when leaving the Safeway shopping center. After all, they put the light in for Southgate and if it's causing this much trouble/noise, approach the city and see if it can be removed.
I live in Southgate and it's pretty quiet, only thing I hear once in a while are the loud motorcycles otherwise it's been great.
If you're right on frates there's really nothing you can do, it's always been busy and that's not going to change.
As far as pitaluma09 there was a house listed for 382k...sold for $375k but the previous owner had a lot of class and gutted the house...it was an empty shell, so the new owner is going to be spending about $150k to get it back to what it was...they're still selling for $500k + depending...there actually was one that just closed for $823k...go figure. Anyways I love my "cookie cutter" house and my $65 dollar a month PG&E bill. After looking at home after home in town that looked like it was still in 1960...I was and still am very glad I picked what I did.
BTW MFC the homes do sell well...
Posts: 30 | Location: Petaluma | Registered: 09 January 2009
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