The residents of East Marine View Drive in Everett, WA are subjected to excessive noise pollution, semi truck pollution, and wreckless driving on a daily basis in our residential neighborhood. Trucks pass by my house at every hour of the day and night.

The amount of heavy traffic on our street deeply impedes our daily quality of life. There are young families and a retirement community that live on this street. There are people with gardens and dogs that need walking. Children play in alley ways away from the busy street. Our yards cannot be enjoyed, we scarcely walk on the sidewalk… it feels like living on a freeway because of the heavily polluted air and speeding vehicles. Residents keep their windows shuttered to soften the constant noise. Home values plummet here. The community is nonexistent.

Commercial Vehicles speed through our residential street and illegally use compression brakes causing excessive noise pollution. They damage property and city curbs which I have witnessed first hand. My mailbox (an industrial cluster mailbox) was hit and destroyed by a car that lost control this year. Without that mailbox, the home behind it would have been struck, putting the people who lived there in danger. My neighbor has had his fence hit and destroyed by a speeding vehicle, and has had two of his own cars sitting outside of his home totaled by speeding vehicles colliding into them. If those cars weren't there as a barrier, they could have crashed into his home.

Semi trucks and passenger vehicles are traveling well above the posted speed limit, which is marked as 30 mph. If a child or pet crossed into the street, the  vehicles would not have enough time to stop, putting their lives in danger. Only three days ago a neighbor lost their small dog because of this. The number of fatalities on East Marine View Drive increases every year from collisions.

My front door is less than 50 feet away from what seems to be a truck route running through a residentially zoned neighborhood.

I have contacted the Everett police station, and the very kind officer I spoke to said he is aware of the issues that plague the Delta neighborhood. He said East Marine View Drive is one of his top ten places to patrol in the city, but he and his fellow officers are spread incredibly thin.

There are playgrounds and elementary schools nearby, and East Marine View Drive itself is part of a school bus route. I’ve personally witnessed vehicles illegally speeding past stopped buses, putting children in harms way. This residential street is becoming more dangerous by the year, and I worry deeply for the safety of my one year old son, and for all of the children and vulnerable population who live here.

We need more traffic law enforcement, reduced speed limits, speed radars, stop signs, stop lights, and speed bumps immediately. We also need more crosswalks, repainted crosswalks, and warning lights for pedestrians. Commercial traffic needs to find a new route. The dangerous misuse of our residential street is a 24/7  occurrence that goes day and night. The residents who live here deserve a safe unpolluted place to live now.