New legislation being considered by New York’s City Council could reroute big rigs traveling city streets, which experts say help contribute to the city’s ongoing traffic nightmare, due to the increase in e-commerce in recent years. City Council member Alexa Aviles, who represents the Redhook and Sunset Park sections of Brooklyn, where many centers have opened, has introduced a bill that would require the Department of Transportation (DOT) to redesign the city’s 1,300 miles of truck routes to improve safety and reduce congestion. NYC truck routes have remained largely unchanged since the network was created in the 1970s.
Eric Beaton, the DOT’s deputy commissioner for transportation planning and management, said the city supports Aviles’ bill. But the DOT does oppose a provision in the bill that would require intersections adjacent to the truck route network to be “daylighted” – a street safety measure that removes parking spaces near intersections to increase visibility for drivers and pedestrians.
More than 2.3 million packages are delivered in the five boroughs each day – up from 1.5 million packages before Covid-19, according to DOT data. Freight industry leaders, including the Trucking Association of New York, say they are on board with the effort to reshape the city’s truck routes.
Source: Crain’s New York Business
