Fewer Ryan Field trucks, but more for Foster School

While the number of trucks hauling excavation material from the Ryan Field construction project is continuing to decrease, truck route residents are beginning to contend with another set of trucks — for the new Foster School project.

At Wednesday's joint Northwestern-City Committee meeting, Deputy City Manager Cárina Sanchez urged residents to be cautious when leveling complaints against NU trucks because the trucks might actually be Foster School trucks.

"I just want to make sure ... I am bringing this to the attention of the right management team," Sanchez said.

But Ald. Clare Kelly (1st) appeared shocked to hear trucks were using the same route.

Sanchez said because the truck route was pre-approved, she assumed the construction teams had concluded using them would be the best option to get to and from their site.

She added that because the Foster School project is far smaller than NU's $800 million Ryan Field project, there "wasn't a strong commitment" to holding regular meetings to provide construction updates.

However, she added that there has been a decrease in overall complaints from residents along the route since NU began wrapping up the excavation process .

The university committed to ensuring trucks leaving the site with material were completely covered, but residents continued to raise concerns about uncovered trucks throughout the summer.

"Obviously it's still an issue but the good thing is it hasn't been at the same volume it was at before," Sanchez said on Wednesday.

Kelly said she was disappointed that the responsibility to file complaints about uncovered trucks kicking up dust falls on residents.

"I think residents feel like they are largely responsible for monitoring and calling attention to these issues," Kelly said.

Sanchez said there simply isn't the same level of oversight on the Foster School project.

Regardless, Kelly said she wanted to sit down with District 65 and the construction management team for that project and discuss the issue and potential impacts on residents.

"We had Northwestern sit down and work this out, I think we also need to do that with the school district," Kelly said.