Detroiters describe citywide struggle with truck traffic: ‘Our streets are sinking’

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While Southwest Detroit bears some of the heaviest burden, truck traffic is a citywide issue. 

“Trucks are everybody’s problem,” Jeffrey Jones, executive director of Hope Village Revitalization, said at a Sept. 30 citywide meeting on the problem of truck traffic on residential streets.

Jones lives 100 feet from Davison Street, where he estimates that thousands of vehicles, including heavy trucks, pass his home daily. When traffic builds, trucks divert onto residential streets, leaving roads damaged, he said. 

An Oakman Boulevard neighbor came home from work in his Mercedes and the street collapsed underneath the vehicle, Jones said, adding the street damage is the result of truck traffic. 

Jones spoke from the Islamic Center of Detroit about the impact trucks have on his west side neighborhood. The nonprofit is one of three locations citywide, plus a virtual option, that hosted residents for a discussion organized by the Trucks Off Our Streets Coalition.

Jones’ community has repeatedly called for safer streets and higher environmental quality, he said, giving the examples of challenging a zoning proposal for a concrete crusher near a nursery school and pushing city officials for enforcement. 

Suburban communities do not face the same problems because “they don’t stand for it, and we shouldn’t either,” he said. 

“We used to feel powerless. Now we’re going to get this truck ordinance passed for the benefit of all residents, especially the babies,” Jones said. 

The day after the community meeting, city officials announced a crackdown on truck traffic in Southwest Detroit that brings new restrictions and enforcement based on existing city codes. 

The city launched a reporting form for residents to document violations of the truck route restrictions.

At the announcement of truck traffic restrictions in Southwest Detroit, City Councilmember Gabriela Santiago-Romero said she wants ordinance changes made this year to strengthen trucking regulations and impose a stricter fine structure for violations.

Asthma rates in Detroit children spike near I-75

A portion of Tuesday’s gathering focused on preparing residents to testify in front of city officials.

Trucks Off Our Streets led practice sessions where participants rehearsed speaking directly to council members, emphasizing how personal stories can effectively convey the need for new regulations governing heavy truck traffic.

A proposed truck ordinance would designate and enforce legal routes for heavy trucks, rerouting them away from residential corridors. Organizers argue that this change is vital not just for cleaner air, but for safer streets and stronger neighborhood infrastructure.

Southwest Detroit has long carried the brunt of the impact from semi-truck traffic, with the Ambassador Bridge serving as a constant source of pollution, congestion, and disruption in residents’ daily lives, said Rachel Marquez, community organizer at the Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation.

When plans for the Gordie Howe International Bridge were introduced, residents pushed back, securing a community benefits agreement that includes home repair and relocation programs to address cracked foundations, shifting walls, and structural damage caused by relentless heavy truck traffic, Marquez said. 

In her presentation, Marquez detailed a health impact study on which her team collaborated in 2017. 

“We were already overburdened with industry and through traffic. Through the study, we saw that children living within two blocks of I-75 had asthma rates 25% to 42% higher than those living further away,” she said. 

Camera recordings and tallies by activists reveal substantial truck volumes in and around Southwest Detroit. The local traffic flows are fed by regional crossings and terminals that funnel thousands of commercial vehicles through the area each day.

Environmental activist Theresa Landrum, president of the Original United Citizens of Southwest Detroit, spoke from District 6’s Kemeny Recreation Center and described years of battles against truck traffic in the city’s southernmost neighborhood, Boynton.

“Our streets are sinking. The trucks are doing a lot of road damage,” Landrum said. She recalled a silent march led by activist Dr. Dolores Leonard that shut down Fort Street in protest of unsafe traffic. 

Landrum highlighted a long, ongoing battle in her neighborhood that’s included appeals to city and state officials, speed studies, stoplight installations, and “No Trucks Allowed” signs, all of which she said have largely been ignored by truck drivers.

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