Mayor de Blasio announced on Sunday that a new initiative will be put in place that will ban commercial truck deliveries during rush hour in areas of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens.
The congestion reduction pilot program will regulate when and where commercial trucks can stop and unload goods, according to the NY Post.
This is result if Big Bird DeBlasio gets your vote. Pandering, idiotic policy that hurts small business. VOTE BO!https://t.co/nZhkf1qpae
— Bo Dietl (@BoDietl) October 22, 2017
“With 8.5 million people, New York City is experiencing both record population and economic vitality; but our success has put serious demands on our already crowded street network,” de Blasio said in a statement. “With a targeted effort to help clear travel lanes, delivery zones, intersections, and highways, these initiatives will address these concerns head-on, using established and new tools that will keep our City moving, from midtown to all of our neighborhoods.”
Curbed NY reported that the truck restriction will affect Midtown cross streets including:
- 60th and 59th Sts. (Fifth to Second Ave.)
- 58th St. (Lexington to Second Ave.)
- 54th St. (Eighth to Third Ave.)
- 53rd St. (Ninth to Third Ave.)
- 50th and 49th Sts. (Ninth to Third Ave.)
- 47th and 46th Sts. (Ninth to Third Ave.)
- 37th and 36th Sts. (Sixth to Second Ave)
During rush hour on these streets, deliveries will be permitted to only one side of the street, while the other curb will be signed for no standing from 6 am to 7 pm.
There will also be new lanes created in Midtown, according to The Official Website of the City of New York. Also, in Lower Manhattan, the city plans to install a network of traffic cameras to more effectively monitor traffic patterns and violations.
For six months beginning in January 2018, the City will ban curbside loading on both sides of the street on the pilot corridors and within the pilot zone during peak hours (7 am-10 am and 4 pm-7 pm). This new initiative applies to:
- Manhattan (Midtown): the zone bounded by Sixth Ave. to the west, Madison Ave. to the East, 45th St. to the south and 50th St. to the north.
- Queens (Jackson Hgts and Corona): Roosevelt Ave., Broadway to 108th St.
- Brooklyn (Downtown, Park Slope, Prospect Hgts): Flatbush Ave, Grand Army Plaza to Tillary St.
“This part of the city is where the problem is the greatest,” de Blasio said. “In the last seven years, the average vehicles’ speeds in Midtown have declined 23 percent. That’s frightening.”
The mayor has received a lot of backlash for this truck ban from merchants and truck drivers alike; they think that not allowing deliveries during rush hour will stall business and punish truck drivers for traffic conditions out of their control.
“The mayor is being willfully stupid about how transportation works in New York City” https://t.co/6XmIhrI8uJ
— Jon Orcutt (@jonorcutt) October 23, 2017
“The plan makes no sense at all,” Nelson Eusebio, a board member of the National Supermarket Association told the NY Post. “The 7 am to 10 am part is definitely going to hurt us. That’s when retailers get most of their deliveries.”
Pushing deliveries back will make business owners have employees stay later in the day to do work that could have already been done earlier. Not only will this ban incur more labor costs for business owners, and take more time off the truck drivers’ HOS, residents of the area will have to get used to the sound of trucks making deliveries late at night.
To cope with this shift in traffic patterns, the NYPD is now adding 110 officers to ensure no trucks are attempting to make deliveries when they aren’t supposed to.
The salaries of the added police enforcement will be paid by fines given to drivers for delivering during rush hour. De Blasio did not provide an estimate of how much revenue the city expects to generate.
Further, truck drivers found in the city, not on the way to a delivery, will also be sighted for unnecessarily contributing to traffic congestion.
The City will target about 30 intersections in Manhattan and 20 intersections outside Manhattan, with a focus on major routes leading to river crossings, highway on-ramps, and commercial centers. A new public-awareness campaign will also target drivers.
On top of the 110 officers looking out for truck deliveries and empty trucks, there will be 50 more uniformed officers that will be focusing on keeping “key intersections around the city” clear of pedestrians and vehicles not in motion. If found blocking an intersection, there will be a fine and a 2 point penalty on your license.
“The NYPD is committed to addressing the issue of congestion in New York City,” said Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill. “Our dedication of additional personnel will support the Mayor’s pilot program by focusing on moving and parking violations, double parking, and off-route trucks. Our enhanced role will improve the overall quality-of-life for New Yorkers as well as improve our public safety.”