Masterton pair grumble at rumble

Trucks in Masterton's Kuripuni St are rattling residents and raising the question of where in town they belong.
Residents report being woken as early as four o'clock in the morning by the rattle of heavy machinery past their properties.
The vehicles include logging trucks, roadworks vehicles and stock trucks, and are said to make more noise when they are empty.
Phil and Val Wellesley and near-neighbours Bruce and Alison Stevens say they are still waiting for some answers from Masterton District Council, despite having spoken to Mayor Garry Daniell and chief executive Wes ten Hove.
"They can't stop the trucks," Mr Wellesley said.
Mr Wellesley said after he first spoke to Wairarapa Times-Age last year, he received about 20 complaints from fellow residents in Kuripuni St and also Colombo Rd.
"You wouldn't believe the noise," he said.
As the residents are speaking on the footpath to the Wairarapa Times-Age, at least four trucks passed in about 20 minutes.
"You want to be in bed at four o'clock in the morning," Mrs Wellesley said.
Mr Wellesley said bumps in the road make the shaking and the noise of the trucks worse.
Mrs Stevens said the heavy vehicles "shake the whole house".
Another resident, who did not wish to be named, said the noise of the trucks is annoying but added "what can you do?"
"Town's congested enough now; why bring trucks through there; they've got to go somewhere."
Macauley's Transport is one of the businesses that sends trucks down Kuripuni St.
Macauley's roading manager Brent Beech said Colombo Rd and Kuripuni St are "better for the boys" in dodging traffic congestion and safety, being "some of the least used roads in Masterton".
Mr Beech said State Highway 2, the alternative, can get congested at the McDonald's roundabout on Lincoln Rd, at the Renall St roundabout and past St Patrick's School, where there are pedestrians and turning traffic.
"A school, mum can pull out and force you out past the centre line - and all someone sees is a logging truck crossing the centre line."
While the Colombo-Kuripuni route passes Makoura College and a crossing there, "you don't have the little boy holding mum's hand with the danger that he'll see a big truck and want to run about and wave at it".
Masterton District Council roading manager Hamish Pringle said he would prefer trucking firms used State Highway 2, rather than a "residential street".
Mr Pringle said rules restricting heavy traffic tended to be restricted to rural roads with bridges that had load limits.
He said there are plans to change the intersection of Kuripuni St and Dixon St to make it less attractive as an option for trucks, and he is aware of potholes on Kuripuni St.
An alternative view has come from Donald McLachlan, who has been living at his house in Kuripuni St for 45 years.
"People should be pleased to hear the noise of the trucks, because the logs that the trucks are carrying are processed into timber to rebuild houses in Japan.
"By being woken up once or twice, they should be pleased to think we're able to help them.
"They're going through hell over there.
"[We're] not going through hell here, just because there are some trucks going up and down the road."