Big rigs could be barred from scenic shortcuts in upstate New York

New York Gov. David Paterson directed the state Department of Transportation to immediately begin developing regulations for large truck routes and gave the agency until the first week of June to finish and present its plan for public comment.

By WILLIAM KATES
The Associated Press

5/14/2008

SKANEATELES, N.Y. — Trash trucks will no longer be allowed to take short cuts across upstate New York’s scenic country highways and will be required to stay on the state’s major interstates as they transport waste to upstate landfills, New York Gov. David Paterson said Monday. And prohibitions on all big rigs are in the works.

Paterson directed the state Department of Transportation to immediately begin developing regulations for large truck routes and gave the agency until the first week of June to finish and present its plan for public comment.

“These trucks have created a problem that desperately needs a solution,” said Paterson, who was joined by U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer.

The new regulations will keep all large trucks on the national interstate network for as much of a trip as possible. They will not affect local pickup and delivery trucks, the governor said.

The change “will balance the need for large trucks to serve the state’s economy with the need to promote sustainable economic development, tourism and improved quality of life for local residents,” Paterson said.

He said he expected to have the regulations in place before the end of the summer, taking effect initially in the Finger Lakes region but eventually expanded statewide.

Violations will carry substantial fines and the new rules will be enforced by local and state police, Paterson said.

“The devil is in the details,” said Michael Chellis, chairman of the safety council for the New York State Motor Truck Association, a trade group with over 800 member trucking firms.

“We don’t mind reasonable regulation — we’re already quite regulated. But for most truckers, it’s a matter of economics. It would be more helpful if instead of increasing tolls, they would reduce them and also help bring down the cost of diesel,” Chellis said.

Each day, a growing number of trucks leave the interstates and cut through small towns across the Finger Lakes to save money on fuel and avoid tolls and weigh stations.

Most of the outcry has been over the garbage trucks hauling solid waste from New York City, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. For most, their destination is the Seneca Meadows landfill in Seneca County.

Critics say there’s been a growing number of accidents in recent years with spills of fuel, garbage and chemicals, all posing threats to the watershed and surrounding neighborhoods.

The trucks also disrupt communities at all hours of the day and night, often leaving behind noxious odors, critics charge.

Skaneateles Mayor Robert Green said as many as 200 garbage trucks rumble daily through his village, a gentrified community with lakeside estates that has been a summertime vacation spot for former President Bill Clinton and his family.

“It has really become a quality of life issue. They stink. They’re loud. They’re tearing up our roads,” Green said.

Another shortcut takes the trucks through Aurora, a historic village overlooking Cayuga Lake in the heart of upstate wine country.

Last year, a trash truck cutting through Aurora overturned, shutting down the village’s main road for eight hours, said George Farenthold, a village trustee. Another tipped over this past weekend, he said. Meanwhile, over the past two years, the village has had to fix four breaks in the water line where it runs next to the state highway, he said.

“I used to wake up to the sound of geese. Now it’s 18-wheelers at 4:30 in the morning,” Farenthold said.

Schumer noted that the national interstate highway system was designed for transporting freight and is much better suited to handle the size and weight of today’s big rigs than are local roads.

Recently, New Jersey developed truck routing regulations requiring large trucks to utilize the national network, Schumer said.