By Michael McDaniel | Daily Independent
On June 5 at midnight at the northernmost tip of Goodyear, Kerrie Zakaras shifted awake. A cement truck sped through Camelback Road behind her home, startling her.
Fourty-four decibels, her phone read in her bedroom. Higher than last week, she thought to herself.
While outside, 20 additional trucks passed by, seemingly on a night run. Her phone camera struggled to capture an image as they sped by. Like her neighbors nearby, she periodically documents the activity.
“Goodyear allowed the truckers association to bully them at the detriment of the residents. We now have a huge truck cross dock where a golf course was once and a Circle K,” she said. “Now trucks are up and down Camelback causing a black soot on outdoor furniture and noise that exceeds 80 decibels inside homes that are not even backing Camelback Road.”
Over on the Litchfield Park side of Camelback, residents have similar grievances. Residents voiced concerns about the traffic noise and pollution in a December town hall.
In 2022, Litchfield Park and the county signed a jurisdictional agreement annexing a 2-mile stretch of Camelback Road from 127th Avenue to North Village Parkway. The agreement stipulated the stretch would be transferred to the city and subject to Litchfield’s truck restriction if found necessary, pending comprehensive study.
That was until Gov. Katie Hobbs signed a bill preventing truck restrictions on major arterial roads, even if it conflicted with municipal sovereignty.
Hobbs signed the bill four months after the Arizona Trucking Association and Arizona Rock Products Association donated $20,000 combined to her inaugural fund. Unlike campaign donations, the inaugural fund allows the governor to use proceeds for gifts, dignitary visits or at-large political campaign spending.
