A Franklin Township man whose home has repeatedly been hit by trucks - most recently twice this month - has pleaded with township officials to address what he said has become an unbearable living situation.

Jason Eidem told supervisors last week that a solution needs to be found after the most recent incidents in which trucks crashed into his home at the intersection of Long Run Road and Canal Street/Fairyland Road.

At 6:15 p.m. Jan. 4, a truck hit his house when attempting to turn from Long Run Road onto Canal Street. The second crash involving the same residence took place at 12:08 p.m. Jan. 9 when another truck hit the house.

Long Run Road has been closed to truck traffic for several years, but truck combinations continue to travel the road despite signs and enforcement.

“There’s no limit; those trucks are not prejudice,” Eidem said. “I’ll tell you what they do, they scare the hell out of people. They carry things down across our watershed that they shouldn’t carry there.

Eidem said 12-by-12 signs on Long Run Road have not stopped them. Once the trucks make that turn onto Long Run Road, “those men and women driving those trucks are running a gauntlet; they’re running a serpentine of roads that they should never be on,” he said.

“They should never be on it because there’s families there. My family lives there. All of our families live there. Our friends live there.”

Eidem said he isn’t only looking out for his family.

“I’m standing my ground for everybody on that road.”

Eidem added, “The first truck that dumps a toxic chemical like vinyl chloride, 55 gallons, one drum that big, could kill hundreds of thousands of people.”

Vinyl chloride is an extremely flammable and potentially explosive gas that is heavier than air, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

Eidem, who has lived at the property for eight years, said that when trucks run over somebody’s property, they don’t see it.

“There’s so many kids here,” he said. “I won’t let my kids play out in that backyard; I won’t even let them go out on the front porch for longer than 10 or 15 minutes without wondering where they are.

“I’ve pleaded, I’ve begged. I’ve come here almost in tears. Nobody deserves to have more problems brought to their doorstep, especially when they’re being shipped in from an outside source.”

Destructive trucks

Eidem asked why trucks use Fairyland Road rather than Harrity Road.

“People’s mailboxes are being taken off, their awnings are taken off,” he said. “Wagner Street and Main Road, that poor couple had their porch completely ripped off.

“I’m telling you, something is going to be done.”

Eidem asked, “Who’s going to maintain my property when I’m dead or I get shot by a truck driver.”

“I’m at the bottom of that hill where everything flows,” he said. “They know they messed up; they want to get out of dodge.”

Eidem said he tries to stop them. “I did that for my family; I did that in my underwear, barefoot in that snowstorm the other day. I’ll do whatever it takes. I’ll put my life on the line for my family, and won’t look back.”

Eidem suggested that when they come down the Maury Road, there should be “a sign on both sides like a billboard. All truck traffic, left, strictly enforced.”

He said the bridges are not built for heavy traffic. “You’re lucky they’re big enough and strong enough to carry a school bus or a garbage truck.”

Board Chairman Fred Kemmerer Jr. said, “I know we’ve made a tiny bit of headway, stop sign at the corner, them putting those small signs up. We’re realizing that it’s just not enough.”

He said. “We as a township can’t act alone with this because it’s a state road, but we as a township could pressure them into doing more.”

He suggested higher fines. “We’re never going to win the war, but we’re going to try and win as many battles as possible,” Kemmerer said.

Taking action

Resident Ryan Bowman said, “You as a township can require that company to acquire a hazard or wide load permit for Franklin Township.”

Permits allow the township to know who is coming through and what loads they are carrying.

Bowman suggested supervisors get officers trained for Department of Transportation inspections, and set up a traffic control point.

“This has got to stop,” Bowman said. “Is it at a point where maybe it becomes an issue that an injunction needs to be filed against the state or against PennDOT, to say enough is enough here and we’re not going to tolerate this.”

Eidem and Bowman suggested high fines, such as $2,000.

Alison Leaver suggested contacting GPS companies to say these routes are not truck safe. “You can submit these things and it will be taken off.”

“How many hits can my family take?” Eidem asked. “I’m the guy who gets in front of them. The statistics are against me. One of these guys is going to shoot.”

Kemmerer said the township has three License Plate Readers that will be coming to the township, and that they will go on Route 209, out by the turnpike, and Route 248.

That way, he said they would have a time frame and be able to pull all the trucks that went through those two corridors and at least have the ability to question them if something was damaged.