I'm looking forward to seeing the City's plans regarding how to prevent this behavior, especially given that this route will be far more appealing once River St is under construction, and even once the project is complete...

Thank you for reporting your concern to City of Cambridge via Commonwealth Connect. We have reviewed the information you provided our staff and will be investigating this issue further.

Given the layout of the adjacent street network, a driver traveling on River Street would not save time by taking Rockwell Street to Pleasant Street. It is most likely that this truck was actually traveling to a business or a home within the neighborhood and thus would not be subject to a truck restriction in this area.

Thank you for your report.

A traffic sign on River Street would not impact trucks with actual business in the neighborhood. Pleasant Street is accessible from Putnam Ave, or Memorial Drive, or Chestnut Street. I’ve resides on this corner for 26 years and it is a very common occurrence to see a truck, or a bus trying to take this turn and holding up traffic for a considerable amount of time, or grazing cars unlucky enough to be parked on the street. Would like to see this addressed.
Another resident concurred with my original comment (see above). Conjecture about the drivers motives does not address the problem. Thank you! EM

Agree. This happens frequently and blocks traffic while trucks try to negotiate an un-negotiable corner turn. Also threatens parked cars.

Hi- Have not heard back from the City on my request to reopen this discussion re: corner of Pleasant and Rockwell. If there is another avenue for pursuing this, please advise. Thanks very much. EM

Thank you for reporting your concern to City of Cambridge via Commonwealth Connect. We have reviewed the information you provided our staff and will be investigating this issue further.

The traffic department conducted a 48-hour traffic count on Rockwell Street to determine the number and size of vehicles traveling on the roadway. The count indicated that an average of 121 vehicles per day travel down Rockwell Street. Of those, 4 per day were the size of a box truck (i.e. local delivery vehicle, trash truck, etc). Zero vehicles larger than a 2-axle box truck were counted on Rockwell Street.

Implementing a truck restriction on a city street requires approval from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. Based on past experience, we do not expect that they would approve a request in this location, as it would not be enforceable. Per state law, truck restrictions do not apply for vehicles with destinations within 1/4 mile of the restricted roadway. Based on the above referenced counts, the very small number of trucks on Rockwell St most likely do have local destinations in the immediate vicinity.