Trucks

The streets of Soho, where trucks roam free

Yesterday, the Department of Transportation announced the publication of its Truck Route Management and Community Impact Reduction Study. The study, which began over eight years ago (PDF), recommends the establishment of an Office of Freight Mobility, new educational materials and public outreach efforts, improved street signs, better enforcement, and some policy and regulatory changes -- for example, requiring trucks over 26,000 pounds operating on city streets to be equipped with a convex mirror to help reduce blind spots.

Today's New York Times has an entire section on "The Business of Being Green" (Times Select), which includes articles on economies of scale in alternative energy, carbon-offset shopping, the possibly endangered practice of truck idling, Danish wind farms, and environmental litigation.

Two pedestrians were killed in New York City last December by private sanitation trucks, one on Park Avenue South in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn Heights. Both deaths followed the most common pattern of pedestrian death in New York -- the peds were crossing the street, in the crosswalk, with the light, and a turning vehicle ran over them.

Today's Times marked the onset of Gridlock Alert season with a paean to Fresh Direct -- the dot-com that brings New Yorkers expensive, home-delivered groceries along with idling engines, double-parking and gridlock galore.

Citywide Coalition for Traffic Relief Press Conference A few quick scenes from yesterday's event Running time: 2:02

Councilmember Gale Brewer joined Transportation Alternatives and representatives of community groups from all over the city at this morning's Citywide Coalition for Traffic Relief rally on the steps of City Hall. The Coalition currently includes 129 community organizations.

A cyclist riding a red mountain bike was killed on Ninth Avenue and 29th Street at about 10 am this morning. The cyclist, a courier working for Urban Express, was traveling southbound in the right lane of 9th Ave. A 10-wheel truck carrying construction materials was driving in the lane to his left. At 29th Street, with the light green and both vehicles moving, the trucker made a right turn, directly into the path of the cyclist. With no no safety plating to prevent the cyclist from falling beneath the wheels of the truck, he was crushed and killed. Witnesses describe the crash as "horrific." Couriers at the scene say that the cyclist's name was Darrell.