Plans for a ban on heavy trucks on certain routes in New York have been scrapped.
The proposal for a ban in the Finger Lakes area was ditched by the New York State Department of Transportation. Two years ago it had released a draft restricting truck access in Central New York – a ban had been put forward by Governor David Paterson and Senator Charles Schumer in response to complaints about truck traffic from people in the community.
However, according to Kendra Adams, the executive director of the New York Motor Truck Association, a study by the New York State Department of Transportation found that a ban was not feasible as it would simply shift truck traffic away from certain communities and into other areas. As 94 per cent of the truck traffic in the area is local, most trucks would therefore shift to other local routes instead of on to the interstate system.
This means that there would be burdens placed on carriers and local businesses with no apparent safety benefits. The routes that were part of the proposed ban include NY Route 38 between NY Route 90 and the southern Auburn City line; NY Route 41 between US Route 11 and US Route 20; NY Route 41A between NY Route 41 and US Route 20; NY Route 79 between NY Route 90 and the southern Auburn City line; NY Route 89 between the western Ithaca City line and US Route 20; NY Route 90 between US Route 11 and US Route 20; and NY Route 96 between the western Ithaca City line and NY Route 414 and between NY Route 414 and US Route 20.
