Weiner Has Plan To Relieve Stifling Truck Traffic
BY JOHN TOSCANO

Congressmember Anthony Weiner warned on Monday that constantly growing truck traffic poses enormous risks to pedestrian safety and contributes to daily gridlock. The Queens/Brooklyn lawmaker proposed a fourpoint plan to alleviate heavy truck congestion.

Weiner stated, "Trucks are the fastest growing segment of traffic today and the trend is only expected to continue."

Drawing on data from the Federal Highway Administration, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and private transportation study agencies, Weiner painted a picture of a huge developing problem for the city. He noted:

+Since 1998, truck traffic has increased nearly 30 percent on city roads and by 2020, the number of miles traveled by trucks in New York City is projected to increase 83 percent citywide over 1998 levels.

+The rise in truck traffic outpaces the increase in other vehicular traffic by a margin of more than 3 to 1.

+While 30 percent more trucks fill the city's busy streets, car traffic rose only a modest 8 percent since 1998.

Weiner's plan calls for increasing truck tolls during peak hours; encouraging nighttime truck deliveries; implementing City DOT (Department of Transportation) recommendations for training truckers and building a rail freight tunnel from New York City to Jersey City.

Citing a state DOT study, Weiner said 96 percent of Manhattan deliveries take place during peak hours.

Weiner's plan would discourage truck traffic from passing through the city at these hours by increasing peak hour truck tolls on those city river crossings that impose tolls on trucks now.

To encourage businesses to receive deliveries at night, thus reducing truck traffic during rush hours, Weiner would give affected businesses a city tax credit which would be matched by the federal government. The credit would compensate a business for any extra staffing costs associated with off-peak deliveries. Weiner said that according to a 2006 study by the state DOT, a tax deduction of $10,000 could lead to more than 20 percent of restaurants switching to off-peak deliveries.

As for training truckers, Weiner said that last May, the city DOT conducted an exhaustive study which found that poor awareness and poor enforcement of truck laws is a major problem in New York City.

Weiner said that 68 percent of truck drivers have little to no familiarity with truck laws and only 40 of 2,500, or 2 percent, of traffic enforcement officers are trained to do truck enforcement.

He said the DOT has issued dozens of recommendations for improving law enforcement training and trucker education. All should be promptly implemented, he said.

The proposed Cross Harbor Freight Tunnel, an idea proposed by Manhattan Congressmember Jerrold Nadler (D), would take 1 million trucks off city streets, Weiner said.

The 5.5-mile tunnel would run under New York Harbor from Sunset Park in Brooklyn to Greenville Yard in Jersey City, Weiner said.

He noted that New York City is the only major city not connected to the national rail system. As a result, 99 percent of all goods brought into New York City must come in by truck.