We have lived in South Deerfield for over 30 years, and the noise and pollution has gotten out of control. The state needs to fix the North Main Street bridge, which should have been done years ago.

First off, we have about 50 buses going by our house every day, back and forth, and one sits outside our house every morning for about half an hour with the motor running.

Next we have Amtrak running by about 10 times a day, which was never here when we bought this house. They go 50-60 mph and don’t even do business here in town. And we know of one fatality on the tracks recently and another accident this past week with another person being killed. With excessive speeds, the trains scare me with since they are near the grammar school and playground.

Next we have the semis going through, which is fairly new. They can barely make the corner and often ride on folks’ property and cause some yard damage. Plus the width of their trucks makes it very tight to get by.

We have 500-plus cars from schools and businesses that go through in the morning and afternoon, and congestion is a mess. They sit and we breathe in their stinky emissions.

We also have freight trains, which go through about two to three times a day, but at least they may do business in town. I wish they would lay off their horns when they go by at 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.

Along with this is the traffic on Routes 5 and 10, with thousands of vehicles every day, which includes trucks, motorcycles, and cars speeding along at about 50. When you consider it is near impossible to make a right, never mind a left, it has gotten out of hand. This main route is a quarter-mile from our home.

We have no police presence at Mill Village Road, Yankee Candle nor the brewery, and it becomes ever more dangerous along with the two pot dispensaries on Routes 5 and 10. We need some traffic lights, which would slow vehicles down and there would be fewer accidents. I feel like the ambulance goes out every hour of the day.

We have folks in our area who have asthma. We have one older neighbor who has been here over 50 years and can’t even open her windows when it gets warm due to noise and stink. I myself have developed nasals which get worse every day.

I wonder if there has been a recent traffic study, along with some kind of air quality test done on North Main Street where we live. We connect to Pleasant and Conway streets. Would you like to live here and breathe the dirty air, never mind all the loud noise? I know I don’t and am sick of waiting for the state to replace that bridge so we can at least get rid of buses, some cars, and the semis.

Shirley Majewski lives in South Deerfield.