Transportation Spokesman Says Town Can't Ban Trucks From 129

A transportation spokesman says the state has a policy of not allowing towns to from state numbered roads including Route 129 in Swampscott.

"MassDOT has a general policy of not authorizing heavy commercial vehicle exclusions on numbered routes, regardless of jurisdiction ...," said Michael Verseckes, a spokesman for MassDOT.

He went on to say that the reason for the policy is that numbered roads are intended to carry all types of traffic legally allowed to travel on public roadways. 

Recently the question of prohibiting trucks — those not making local deliveries — from traveling Humphrey Street came up at a Swampscott selectmen's meeting.

A resident, at an earlier meeting, said trucks were using the beach road as a cut-through and were tying up traffic, generating pollution and endangering pedestrians.

Board member Barry Greenfield is concerned about the truck question but more concerned about the issue of local versus state control.

If the town pays to maintain a road, he reasons that the town should be able to regulate its use for truck traffic.

"Not someone in an office in Boston," he said in an interview Monday.

Greenfield looks forward to having his questions answered by a state transportation spokesman at an upcoming selectmen's meeting.

Verseckes said on Monday that, in the past, communities required state approval for the majority of traffic issues affecting local roadways.

A change to the law gave "communities the authority to regulate traffic issues on local roadways provided that it was done in conformance to the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices," he said.

There were exceptions to this change.

Jurisdiction wasn't given back to towns for items including the setting of speed limits and excluding heavy commercial vehicles, he said.