Trucks hurtling down Grand Avenue are hurting businesses and the quality of life in the neighborhood, said Anthony Nunziato, a resident of Maspeth and the owner of a Grand Avenue business.
“These trucks coming through cause numerous amounts of problems for us,” Nunziato said. “People are afraid to cross the street, traffic is constantly backed up, there is unnecessary noise and truck fumes are all over. It’s a real quality-of-life problem.”
Back in 2007, the DOT, along with Community Board 5, devised an alternate truck route named the Maspeth Bypass to alleviate this problem. The route, implemented in 2011, gives trucks and tractor-trailers a Brooklyn-Queens route that avoids Grand Avenue except for local deliveries.
Nunziato, who has owned Enchanted Florist on Grand Avenue for more than 28 years, said the restrictions are rarely enforced, which is why the trucks are still an outstanding issue.
“All we want is enforcement,” he said. “The alternate route was put in for a reason. There has to be something done.”
Moreover, 53-foot-long tractor-trailers, which must follow a strict traffic pattern when traveling in the city and may not make any pick-ups or deliveries when there, according to state law, roll down the avenue daily in apparent violation of state law, Nunziato said.
When asked about the enforcement of the illegal trucks on Grand Avenue, the DOT referred the question to the NYPD.
The 104th Precinct said they conduct enforcement with the state Department of Transportation, which will, after a request, set up a temporary weighing station to check for illegal trucks.
4 comments:
This truck issue dates back to the 1980s!!!! When will DOT do something to address it once and for all? Damn it!
How about keeping semis out of our neighborhoods altogether?
Have them transfer products to smaller vehicles unless they are going directly to a large parking lot at a supermarket.
Semis do not belong on small city streets!
Has anyone brought this to Tony Avella's attention? It's a State Reg (his current bailiwick) with City enforcement issues (Avella's previous incarnation)...
I stopped in the Maspeth Ale House, the old AJ Kenny's, last week for a burger and beers. I sat at the bar in the early afternoon and the semis rumbled by, endlessly.
I counted twenty-seven by the time I stopped to eat my lunch.
If each semi is 53 feet that means I saw a about a quarter mile of trucks pass in a little less than an hour.
Amazing that the elected officials and police allow this in a growing immigrant community. Only a matter of time before the Polish residents rise up and take the power away from the idiots like Liz Crowley and Markey.
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