Trucks at New York ports

The Tri-State Transp Campaign has recently been berating the Port Authority NYNJ and other agencies saying: “They refuse to include targets for reducing trucks’ overall share of port freight movement... The Tri-State Campaign and other environmental and civic groups have pushed for the addition for almost a year. The agencies’ foot-dragging bespeaks either their desire not to upset the truck-reliant status quo, their fear of failure, or their complete ignorance of the political momentum that is building against more trucks into and through NJ and NY.”

But it is no darned business of governments to favor one transport mode over another. Just because the Tri-State Campaign and their friends have a pathological hatred of road vehicles and spew that hate for more than a year is no reason why stalinist economic planning should be revived in New York to dictate transport mode shares for freight.

The Campaign rhetoric does tap into genuine citizen antagonism to truck traffic which struggles through overcrowded local streets. The big rigs can only get into New York from New Jersey via the George and the Verrazano and then some of the motorway standard roads exclude them so they clutter the signalized surface streets. (The Lincoln, Holland and Brookyn-Battery tunnels are too low at 13' for trucks.)

By all means make sure the trucks conform to air emissions and noise standards. And wherever possible put them on their own roadway lanes so their impact on others is minimized.

What New York needs most of all are dedicated truckways, including a trucks-only tunnel from New Jersey to Long Island. But where do you find the right of way? Abandoned railroads. They are strewn all over the greater New York area. Abandoned for good reason. Except for bulk products like coal and grain and for trips of a thousand km or so rail makes no sense. It isn’t an alternative to trucks. The rail doesn’t get you where you want the freight to go - to a loading dock, a warehouse or a store, whereas the truck’s pavement is ubiquitous. An old 40 foot (12m) railroad right of way makes a perfect corridor for a truckway lane each direction and a central striped median cum breakdown island. They probably need to be trenched or buried to shelter nearby housing and to provide grade separation from local streets. But provide quick predictable trip times to truckers, and truck tolls will pay the cost.

Rather than going on year after year, King Canute-like, railing against trucks, the Tri-State Campaign could be pushing such dedicated truckways. If they were actually interested in improving the quality of life of New Yorkers rather than in throwing around their political weight.