A City That Encourages and Allows Unsafe Streets

 

The food trailer that had been parked in the 700 block of the Columbia Street truck route has now found a new home in the much narrower section of the truck route in the 400 block of Columbia.

The trailer takes up one third of the width of the street at the bottom of a hill where enormous trucks and tractor trailers are a constant part of both lanes of traffic.  It takes up 4 more feet of the street than the car behind it in the picture does.  The car is 6 feet wide, the trailer is 10 feet wide, and the street is about 30 feet wide.

The trailer seems desperate for a place to park indefinitely where it will not be ticketed, towed, or otherwise draw the attention of the police or code enforcement. First it was the Union Street parking lot, then along the 7th Street Park, and now, for the past week, here on a different portion of the truck route. One wonders if the trailer were to cause an accident -- possibly a head on collision with at least one enormous, heavy and wide truck involved -- would the city then deem the parked trailer a danger and ask it to move to another street or city parking lot? Or would they just allow the trailer to remain where it is for as long as the owners like?

How wide can a vehicle or trailer
be when parked on a city street?  
Is there a width limit?  Does anyone
at City Hall care?