TROY – Tired of tractor-trailer trucks shaking their homes’ foundations and speeding through their narrow streets, South Troy residents are launching a letter-writing campaign to get Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin to sign off on agreement needed to get the $10 million South Troy Industrial Road project completed.

The Osgood/South Troy Neighborhood Association opted to get involved Tuesday after hearing from a city representative that McLaughlin has not responded to requests made since September to complete the contracts required to put the project out to bid.

“We don’t need these big tractor-trailers coming through our neighborhood,” said Julia Soto of Second Street.

“The foundations of a lot of our homes our being cracked by these trucks. This is our home. We live here,” said Mary Ruiz of First Street.

The County Legislature and county Industrial Development Agency had approved transfers of property to the city that are necessary for the bypass road project to proceed, the city has said. But nothing has occurred, leading officials to contact McLaughlin in September and in November along with phone calls to county staff.

It’s been five weeks since Democratic Mayor Patrick Madden wrote McLaughlin, a Republican, asking him to sign the documents needed to put in a sidewalk and to make a safe turn for trucks near the south end of the road project on Main Street across from the Rensselaer County Jail. The city’s six-member Rensselaer County Legislature delegation, all Democrats, also have written McLaughlin.

A spokesman for McLaughlin said in November they would be negotiating with the city even though deals had been reached for the project to move ahead. There has been no response from McLaughlin to their inquiries, city officials and legislators said Tuesday.

Previously: Troy industrial road project stalls without McLaughlin's signature

The South Troy Industrial Road would run about 1.3 miles from Adams Street south to Main Street. It would bypass the residential areas to the east, taking truck traffic off the local streets. The project is seen as opening up access to the industrial land tracts, both developed and undeveloped, between the Hudson River and First Street.

Sid Fleischer said truck traffic has been a problem since he moved into the neighborhood in the 1980s.

“We all have been waiting for many years for this road,” he said.

The residents agreed that would write McLaughlin and the County Legislature urging them to see the road project moves ahead.

“It’s a great project. The county was behind it. I don’t know what’s holding it up,” Steven Strichman, the city commissioner for planning and economic development, told the residents.

City Democrats said McLaughlin not signing the contracts may be because of the possibility of Madden being a potential Democratic candidate for county executive in two years. Madden has said he does not intend to run for county executive.

Strichman said city officials are hopeful that the agreements will be signed this week.