Tractor-trailers moved from Prince George's County neighborhood to Route 301
PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, Md. (FOX 5 DC) - The tractor-trailers lining a Prince George’s County neighborhood are gone – but only in the neighborhood.
"I am ecstatic for the community. This is major. It is a huge win. Peace has been restored, our safety has been restored. We all banned together, and as a result, we have gotten what we needed," said neighbor Rita Robinson.
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The Timothy Branch section of Brandywine in Prince George’s County is across the street from a United States Postal Service facility set up to handle the USPS’s extra holiday packages.
Neighbors say for the last few weeks, tractor-trailers have lined up for over a mile in the neighborhood at all hours of the night trying to get into the facility.
Friday, after working with several local leaders, the tractor-trailers have been relocated elsewhere.
"You hear people make promises, and they don’t really deliver. It was delivered," Robinson said.
However, the issue is now Prince George’s County's to deal with.
"The top priority for me, and for the police chief, and for the chief administrative officer was the safety of this community," said Barry Stanton, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Public Safety in Prince George’s County.
Police and other government agencies worked with the Postal Service to come up with a temporary plan to get the trucks out of the neighborhood.
But now, the mile-long line of trucks has moved into an emergency lane of nearby Route 301 and a nearby park and ride. Stanton says more work needs to be done to come up with a long-term fix.
"We’ve addressed their problem from a temporary standpoint. Is this a long-term solution? No. But it’s a solution that we’ve committed to resolve now from a temporary standpoint, so these truck drivers are not stationed or parked in this community," Stanton said.
For its part, the United States Postal Service is citing a sudden and large increase of package deliveries for these backups. Stanton says the USPS has worked closely with the county on this temporary fix.
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FOX 5 asked the USPS what’s being done to lessen the backups and a spokesperson gave this response:
"The Postal Service has secured a staging area for trucks and instructed all drivers to report there. We will reinforce the new staging procedures with them."