BY BEN VERDE
Big rig truckers are taking
illegal detours through residential
side streets in Sunset
Park near the Gowanus Expressway,
making life miserable
for locals and creating traffi
c hazards along their illicit
routes.
“There is going to be a tragedy
this summer,” said Felicia
DeVita, a 28th Street resident
living between Third and
Fourth avenues. “There are a
lot of kids on the block in those
14 multi-family homes.”
Third and Fourth avenues
serve truckers as designated
north-south corridors along
the borough’s western fringe,
but big rig operators are only
permitted to maneuver down a
short list of crosstown connectors,
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COURIER L 18 IFE, MARCH 6-12, 2020
which in Sunset Park and
Greenwood Heights include
20th Street, 38th Street, and
39th Street.
DeVita claims the truckers
largely ignore those restrictions,
and take advantage of
spotty enforcement on the part
of police to engage in illicit detours
that save drivers time at
the expense of locals’ quality of
life.
The 28th Street resident
says that illegal trucking
is particularly lousy on her
street, which heads towards
the nearby warehouses for
Amazon’s Fresh Direct delivery
service, along with the Liberty
View strip mall, Industry
City, and the not too distant
A 53-foot trailer on 28th Street. Courtesy Felicia DeVita
Costco.
“In the mornings I’m seeing
them getting stuck trying to
maneuver around the city, and
then I can’t get down my block,”
she said. “In the afternoon I’m
fi nding they all want to wrap up
their day — and they’re speeding
to make that light.”
But concerns over illegal
trucking are widespread
throughout Sunset Park, according
to a local transportation
guru, who said legislators
should pass new laws designed
to ease the city’s reliance on
oversized trucks.
“It is antiquated that New
York City is still dealing with
tractor-trailers of this size,” said
Zachary Jasie, chair of Community
Board 7’s Transportation
Committee. “Everything in
New York City can be delivered
in a 14-foot cube truck.”
Jasie said the community
board asked the city to analyze
freight traffi c throughout
the area over the last decade,
but that the assurances on the
part of transit offi cials that a
study is in the works has so
far proven empty, according to
Jasie.
A spokesman for the Department
of Transportation
said the city will release a citywide
truck study in the coming
months, but could not provide
any information on one specifi
c to Community District 7.
A large truck stuck making
a turn down 26th Street.Courtesy
Felicia DeVita
Big rig trucks are illegal on
all city streets under New York
City traffi c laws, which states
that “the total length of a combination
of vehicles, inclusive
of load and bumpers, shall not
be more than 55 feet.”
Rigging
the game
Locals fume over illegal truck
traffi c in Sunset Park
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