Residents’ ongoing problems with heavy traffic and dust along the truck route for the Ryan Field reconstruction project almost dominated the discussion on Wednesday evening. Northwestern University Town Committee Meetings – although the university administration hopes to improve these conditions in the coming weeks.

From the earliest stages of the project, neighbors of the stadium site and the approved truck route have observed the large number of trucks being used to haul materials out of Evanston: first the rubble of the old stadium and now a massive amount of earth that workers are using to excavate the underground area of ​​the new stadium.

The project used a single, two-way truck route that covered Central Street between the stadium site and Sherman Avenue, Sherman between Central and Emerson Streets, and Emerson and Golf Road between Sherman and Crawford Avenue. City spokeswoman Cynthia Vargas told the RoundTable in July that this route was chosen over other potential routes partly because of the height restrictions imposed by railway viaducts.

Dust turns into mud on windshields

Still, residents said they are overwhelmed by the volume of trucks driving to and from the stadium each weekday, especially because of the dust they leave behind when they are full or empty. Jane Danielson-Rickard said she has had more asthma attacks since the trucks started traveling more frequently, and Sherre Brutzkus said the dust that clings to the cars can be so thick that it “turns into sludge” when she uses her windshield wiper spray.

Dave Davis, community liaison at Northwestern, shared two pieces of “relatively good news” in his response to the issue. He said the frequency of truck trips is expected to “decrease over the next month or two” as the bulk excavation work is completed. On a smaller scale, Northwestern plans to distribute free car wash coupons to residents along the truck route in the near future.

“The reason it actually took so long is because we were trying to find a car washing partner in Evanston,” Davis said. He urged residents to Online inquiry formand promised that more information would be released next week.

One issue raised by several participants is that while covering full trucks leaving Evanston has helped reduce dust, a significant amount of dust is actually spread by empty trucks returning to the site. This is especially true at turnarounds, such as at Emerson and Sherman, where Danielson-Rickard said she can often see a “gust of wind” blowing dust out of the beds of trucks as they turn.

While full trucks are required by law to cover their loads when departing, Evanston Police Traffic Sergeant Jeff Faison said the road code does not have such a requirement for empty trucks. Davis fielded suggestions from several people that Northwestern should require truck crews to do this themselves, and committee chair and Councilwoman Clare Kelly (1st District) said she would ask the university for updates on if and when it would be enforced.