Living along Allens Creek Road in Waynesville sometimes feels like living in a war zone.

Residents keep their doors and windows shut, make their children play behind the house or behind chain link fences, are afraid to use the sidewalks, and rarely linger on their porches. They scurry out to their mailboxes and back as quickly as possible, and the wary mail carrier keeps one eye glued to his review mirror.

The enemy is a constant barrage of trucks that rumble up and down the narrow, two-lane residential road, going back and forth to the rock quarry and asphalt plant at the head of Allens Creek. Trucks pass by every 30 seconds on average from dawn to dusk — sometimes with several blowing by in quick succession and a reprieve rarely lasting longer than 60 seconds.

They rattle windows, cause a gust of air that would blow off a loose-fitting hat, kick up dust, spew exhaust and dribble gravel. Residents say the volume of trucks on Allens Creek is just part of living along a road shared by a rock quarry.

But their top two concerns — speed and the use of Jake Brakes^TM (see infobox) — don’t have to come with the territory, residents claim. Almost all trucks are equipped with the jake brakes, which cuts the flow of fuel to the engine. The result is a loud deep thunking, growling and clacking. It’s designed for steep grades, but on Allens Creek the grade is very slight. Resident question why trucks would use the device.

“They just haven’t got any respect for the community. You can’t even sit there and watch television they make so much noise,” said Charles Miller, who has lived on Allens Creek for 32 years.

Miller got so upset by the use of the loud braking systems that he carted a tape player to town hall one night and played the sounds at a Waynesville town board meeting. He hoped town officials might do something about the problem (see related article).

Truck trauma

A simple stroll down Allens Creek to ask residents their opinion on the truck traffic unleashes a torrent of complaints.

Nathan Warren lives in a bend that seems to be a favorite spot for jake-brake happy truckers.

“You can’t sit on the porch and talk on the phone. The other person can’t hear you when trucks go by,” said Warren. “If I have my door open, I have to turn my CD player all the way up just to hear it. It gets so irritating. I hate it.”

Dozens of homes sit very close to the road along Allens Creek. The homes were built in traditional neighborhood style during the mid 20th century for workers at mills on that end of Waynesville. The street and neighborhood were not designed for an all-day convoy of large gravel-laden dump trucks.

“They fly down this road. Look at those two that just went by,” said Melanie Trull, pointing down the road. “They must have been going 50 miles per hour.”

Janice Coull said she doesn’t like going to the mailbox. The Coulls are trying to move because they are worried about their dog getting out and getting hit.

Gene Sutton built a fence for his 5-year-old granddaughter to play in.

“I was afraid she’d get out in the road,” said Sutton.

Wendy Trull said the standing rule at her house is no playing in the front yard. Others are afraid to mow along the road shoulder.

As the mailman on Allens Creek for more than 10 years, John Miller has had more than one close call while creeping along the side of the road in his pint-sized vehicle.

“Sometimes it is very dangerous,” Miller said. “You keep your eyes on that mirror all the time. Those mirrors are my protection.”

On several occasions, Miller has glanced in his mirrors in time to see a truck barreling down on him, going too fast to stop in time. If a car is in the oncoming lane and the truck can’t swerve around Miller, he has to act fast and pull off the road into the closest driveway or yard.

Miller said the only reprieve is when law enforcement are on the road.

“They drive like they are in a funeral then,” Miller said of the truckers. But he said he wouldn’t dream of asking to be reassigned.

“The people are kind of sentimental to me,” Miller said of his route.

When paving jobs are scheduled at night to avoid traffic interruptions on heavily traveled roads, trucks run all night. Night work on Russ Avenue in Waynesville over the past three weeks has been particularly troublesome to Gene Sutton. Sutton has had five back surgeries.

“When I wake up at 3 o’clock in the morning, it’s rough on me,” Sutton said.

The sound of trucks keep the Coulls awake all night, too.

“My husband kept thinking it was his boss coming to pick him up and he had overslept,” Janice Coull said of the all-night truck noise outside their window.

Those who work third-shifts and live along the road have trouble getting needed sleep during the day, as do elderly.

In addition to noise and speed, Charles Miller claims the dust is bad, too, sometimes coating cars along the road during dry stretches.

“Then when the dew falls on it, it’s not like regular dust, it’s like little specs of concrete,” Miller said.

One story circulating the neighborhood involves the great-grandson of Kenneth Deaver, who said during a recent visit, “Papa, let’s go out on the dirty porch.”

Don’t forget the fumes, said Janice Coull, who lives near the beginning of Allens Creek. Trucks accelerate past her house after idling at a stoplight and leave a diesel smell in the air.

“It is unhealthy for him to sit on the porch all day,” Coull said of her husband.

Bad apples

Residents along Allens Creek don’t condemn all truckers.

“It ain’t our local drivers. It’s these ones that are out of town,” said Gene Sutton. “They don’t show no respect.”

Miller said the trucks that “haul regular” are more respectful.

Gary White Trucking was named by several residents as having some of the most courteous drivers. The company’s drivers never use their jake brakes, said residents.

“We don’t use them simply because they make too much noise in a residential area like that,” said Gary White, who has owned the Waynesville-based trucking company for 33 years. “It is not a road that is so steep that you have to have them.”

Bobby Pressley, a mechanic with Gary White Trucking, said he is a stickler with maintenance of the fleet, as a properly operating truck is quieter. Pressley said he doesn’t understand why other truckers use their jake brakes on Allens Creek.

“I don’t understand why a lot of these young guys want to have their jake brakes on. A lot of guys that’s driving trucks they think they’re hot dogs,” Pressley said. “There ain’t no sense in that.”

White also has a speed policy with his truckers.

“They all know that I expect them to take their time down through there. We really try to watch and we realize how close to the road everybody is,” White said.

Residents’ theories on why truckers use their jake brakes on a relatively gentle grade like Allens Creek were similar to Pressley’s theory.

“It’s like a teenager with a loud car. There’s no reason for them to be using them,” said Shane Trull, a carpenter who has lived along the road seven years.