Truck Troubles Along DOT-Sanctioned Route To Triborough Bridge
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Day after day, truck after truck gets stuck on the same corner in Queens. It's created a nightmare for neighbors and drivers alike, and it turns out its part of a truck route officially sanctioned by the city.
So whose bright idea was this?
"We basically hear honking throughout the day every day," Raffie Gordon, who works nearby in Astoria, said.
A montage of the mounting madness is documented in a series of photos posted by the Twitter account @TrucksStuckNYC.
People who work and dine at the Sparrow Tavern get a front row seat to the daily occurrence.
"We've actually pulled motorcycles out of the way because trucks are coming down," Astoria resident Mike Massetti said.
Morgan White, manager at Macoletta Restaurant, also tries to pitch in.
"It's almost like a community effort," he said.
Witnesses say the problem arises whenever a car parks close to the intersection in designated no standing zones.
Sometimes, those cars even get hit, but the corner is part of the Department of Transportation's truck route which allows trucks access to the RFK-Triborough Bridge on-ram.
Councilman Costa Constantinides (D-22) says to make matters worse, a backup on the bridge can back up traffic down the block up to a mile into the residential community.
"There's a park, there's a school," he said. "This should not be a truck route. I've been working with DOT to make this not a truck route."
The DOT says it's reassessing truck routes. Meantime, one property had a bike ring installed on the sidewalk after years of it getting destroyed by trucks.
Constantinides says he'll know by the end of the month whether the DOT will change the truck route.
