What if every 60 seconds, a 13- ton -construction vehicle rumbled through your
neighborhood....In the
morning, the afternoon and all
hours of the night.With the
massive growth in Utah.. what
you described there.. is a
problem plaguing neighborhoods
across the state.One of those
neighborhoods.. for the past
18 months.. has been asking
the city to quiet things down.
NatsAll you've got to do is
look around.. and Salt Lake
is..Nats .. a city under
construction..They're stacking
them high.. Nats .. and
they are digging them low..
Around the corner.. up the
street.. you can see it.. you
can..Nats truckLike I was
saying.. you can see it.. you
can..Nats truckOne more
time here.. you can..Nats
truckAlright.. hey Dan.. how
about doing me a solid and
finish the sentence..Sot
Dan Love-Resident 1.03.38
"it's not just a
noise.. it's a feeling.. you
can feel it." .40Dan Love
has lived in Salt Lake City's
Marmalade neighborhood for
more than a decade.He loves
the people..He loves the
location..What he does not
love..Nats Sot Dan
Love-Resident 41.27 "I
can't sleep at night.. because
it's 24 hour gravel
operations." .32.. he's
not a big fan of the gravel
trucks.. cement trucks.. dump
trucks.. basically any kind of
heavy truck driving along 300
west.He believes this stretch
of road has turned into a
construction route.. for the
nearby gravel yards..
Effecting people's quality of
life.A stretch of road paved..
along a city park.. high
density housing.. established
neighborhoods.. pedestrian
crosswalks.. a local library..
and West High School.Sot
Dan Love-Resident 46.52
"we're at.. we're at 24-7.. 7
days a week. So Sunday night
at 3am.. I'll give you
video.." .57 Nats home
videoThis is the video Dan
says he shot at 3 in the
morning.. where you hear truck
after truck..Nats home
video.. driving through the
middle of the night..Sot
Dan Love-Resident 1.02.18
"when you watch it..
it's shocking." .21Nats
home video.. all of this
while Dan and his neighbors
are just trying to sleep. Nats
Sot Jon Larsen-
Director of SLC Transportation
Division .43 "IS THAT
OK FOR THESE TRUCKS TO BE
DRIVING UP AND DOWN THERE
24/7? Yeah, legally." .48
That's Jon Larsen.. director
of Salt Lake City's
Transportation Division.Who
says he understands..Sot
Jon Larsen-Director of SLC
Transportation Division
.23 "I understand.. it's a
frustrating situation."But
understanding the situation..
and legally doing something
about that situation.. are two
completely different
situations.Sot Jon Larsen-
Director of SLC Transportation
Division 2.11 "it's a
public roadway.. so as long as
you meet the standards to
operate on the public right of
way.. you can operate on 3rd
west.."So.. the KSL
Investigators looked into "the
standards to operate" and
found a few of things..First
off.. 3rd west is also U-S
89.. zoned for heavy trucks
and traffic for decades.Sot
Jon Larsen-Director of SLC
Transportation Division
1.43 It's the same as
anyone else.. you're allowed
to drive on the street anytime
that its open.. and the
streets are open all day."
.49Which means rolling at
3am.. is perfectly legal.
Second, has to do with the
loads..Sot Dan Love-
Resident 44.40 "the
loads have to be covered..
you'll see the dust, the dirt,
the debris that comes out of
there.." Dan's absolutely
correct.. these trucks have to
be covered, unless.. according
to state code section 72-7-
409.. subsection 3-A-1 "the
highest point of 3
the load does not extend above the top of any exterior wall.." We spent days and nights..
watching trucks drive up and
down 3rd west.. and did not
see any violations.What we did
see..Nats me counting
trucks.. was a lot of trucks..
Nats me counting trucks..
in the middle of the day..
over several days..Nats me
counting trucks .. rumbling
through the neighborhood about
every 55 seconds.In fact,
during our brief interview
with Dan..Sots series of
quick sots with Dan
interrupted by trucks ..
there were about 30 of them.
And every single one of them
was loud.But to qualify as
illegally loud..Nats
decibel meter.. a certain
threshold has to be met.Nats
decibel meterAccording to
the county health department..
anything above 88 decibals for
trucks.. is a violation.What
we found is a majority of
these big rigs..Nats
decibel meter.. are legally
sound.The only noise violation
in question is.. not the
bicycle.. box truck.. nope,
not the dump truck..Wait for
it..Nats 1.04.10
air brakes.. and que the air
brakes.That's Illegal on this
road.. unless used for an
emergency.Sot Dan Love-
Resident 39.04 "I
don't blame the truckers..
they're there to make a
living. I don't blame the
gravel pits.. we need the
gravel. Everything you see is
built on that foundation. So
there's not an evil in it.
It's just.. how do you get
people to engage in common
space to solve common sense
problems." .39.19 Dan has
spent the last several years
engaging with city leaders..
some of which, he says,
stood.. watched.. and
listened.. on his front lawn.
And while the city admits
there is an issue..Sot Jon
Larsen-Director of SLC
Transportation Division
6.54 "what we want people
to know is that we hear them..
and we're doing something
about it..".. they also say,
there is no quick solution.
Which means until they figure
something out.. Dan has made
it clear..Sot Dan Love-
Resident 43.00 "we
know that when governments
fail at the very basic level
of protecting its citizens..
outrage ensues." .. he will
continue making noise.
The city says they are working
on a long term solution..
which could include upgrading
the Warm Springs Interchange,
near the gravel pits.. so
construction trucks can use
that interchange.. instead of
driving U-S 89 to the 6th
north interchange.That would
take 5-10 years to study..
secure funding.. and then
build.Quick side note.. Salt
Lake P-D has done a couple of
traffic enforcement sessions..
with no tickets.Max decibels
for cars.. is 80.