New York City’s Transportation Department is expected to announce proposed changes to the five borough’s truck network Monday that officials hope will keep the large vehicles off more residential streets.
The redesign, mandated by the City Council in a 2023 law, adds 43 miles to the city’s 1970s-era network of truck routes — and in so doing, officials hope, streamlines access to highways and industry.
“This truck route network redesign will help reduce the overall truck miles traveled on local streets by providing more direct connections to industrial zones and shifting more trips onto highways that previously weren’t part of the network,” DOT spokesman Vincent Barone said in a statement.
“We look forward to implementing the new design and tying it to new street redesigns that will improve safety for everyone, as well as new loading zones to better manage New Yorkers’ home delivery needs.”
The city’s truck network is made up of routes designated for truck travel, both through the city and for local deliveries.
City law requires trucks to complete as much of their journey on designated routes as possible before reaching their destination.
Trucks are allowed to deviate from the designated routes in order to make a delivery but not, for example, to get around a traffic jam.
The new proposal would add 13 miles of truck routes to Brooklyn, nearly four miles in the Bronx, 16 miles in Queens, 14 in Staten Island, and nearly a mile and a half in Manhattan.
About five miles of existing truck routes citywide will be removed under the plan.
Among the proposed new routes are: portions of the Nassau and JFK Expressways and a section of Farmers Blvd. in Queens near Kennedy Airport; portions of Second and Third Aves. as well as New Utrecht Ave. in Brooklyn; Korean War Veterans Parkway on Staten Island and a few blocks of Fifth Ave. in Manhattan.
About 21 miles of the new routes are on, or lead to, highways, Barone said.