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Greenport steps into truck route talks
By Paul Crossman
Hudson-Catskill Newspapers
The Planning Board voted on Tuesday to wait on giving O&G Industries, a local trucking company, site plan approval for a new truck route running through the St. Lawrence Cement property pending a recommendation from the state Department of Transportation.
The issue of heavy trucks running through the city of Hudson and surrounding areas has recently been a subject of much debate, with various routes being proposed, argued against, and defended. The main problem, according to the city of Hudson, is that the constant wear and tear of trucks doing damage to the infrastructure and presenting a possible danger to the health and welfare of the people of the city, so therefore the traffic should be redirected.
A subdivision of this problem is O&G Industries, consistently running large trucks from the Colarusso Quarry to the riverfront.
Though this only represents a part of the overall truck traffic in Hudson, the firm uses the truck route through Hudson frequently for about eight months of the year, running upwards of 20 trucks a day on the route.
In an effort to help alleviate their part of the problem, the company hired an outside consultant to do a traffic study, presented first to Hudson, and then to the Greenport Planning Board for a site plan application.
“We looked at different routes,” said the O&G consultant, “and our best recommendation is to follow the path through the Saint Lawrence Cement property.”
He went on to say that this would be an ideal route for the heavy truck traffic of O&G, as the property already has a number of old trucking roads which would only need to be renovated.
“Really what this project is all about is road maintenance,” the representative told the board.
Some planning board members though, weren’t so sure that what was suggested was really the best possible route. Chairman Don Alger inquired as to exactly how the trucks were going to exit the St. Lawrence Cement property onto Route 9G, and was unsatisfied with the answer that they would do the same thing they always do: “Look left, look right, and then go.”
“9G is not going to be that easy,” he said. “You’ve got a double curve there.”
Several other board members agreed, saying that traffic coming down the hill on Route 9G couldn’t see the intersection at all because of the curves.
The representative from O&G told the board that the plan was not set in stone, but that it was the best possibility they had come up with, and that it was looked favorably upon by many officials in the Hudson — including Mayor Rick Scalera, who believes that the O&G trucks should definitely be rerouted around the city if at all possible.
“The plan shores up Saint Lawrence Road, and crosses (Routes) 9 and 9G pretty much in a straight line,” he told the Register-Star. “If we can circumvent the city with all these trucks, we should. I know O&G approves of this plan, and I do too.”
Regardless of this support though, many Greenport planning board members remained skeptical of the proposed route.
“You don’t want to solve a political issue by causing a hazardous condition,” said one planning board member, who went on to say that there were several other routes which would not involve crossing potentially dangerous intersections like Routes 9 and 9G.
In the end, Councilman Robert McGiffert proposed that they wait to give O&G site plan approval until they could see the state Department of Transportation recommendation. This was agreed by the Board, and O&G will appear again at the next planning board meeting on Oct. 27 at 7:30 p.m.
***
To reach reporter Paul Crossman call 518-828-1616, ext. 2266, or e-mail pcrossman@registerstar.com. To comment directly on this story, visit our website at www.registerstar.com.
The issue of heavy trucks running through the city of Hudson and surrounding areas has recently been a subject of much debate, with various routes being proposed, argued against, and defended. The main problem, according to the city of Hudson, is that the constant wear and tear of trucks doing damage to the infrastructure and presenting a possible danger to the health and welfare of the people of the city, so therefore the traffic should be redirected.
A subdivision of this problem is O&G Industries, consistently running large trucks from the Colarusso Quarry to the riverfront.
Though this only represents a part of the overall truck traffic in Hudson, the firm uses the truck route through Hudson frequently for about eight months of the year, running upwards of 20 trucks a day on the route.
In an effort to help alleviate their part of the problem, the company hired an outside consultant to do a traffic study, presented first to Hudson, and then to the Greenport Planning Board for a site plan application.
“We looked at different routes,” said the O&G consultant, “and our best recommendation is to follow the path through the Saint Lawrence Cement property.”
He went on to say that this would be an ideal route for the heavy truck traffic of O&G, as the property already has a number of old trucking roads which would only need to be renovated.
“Really what this project is all about is road maintenance,” the representative told the board.
Some planning board members though, weren’t so sure that what was suggested was really the best possible route. Chairman Don Alger inquired as to exactly how the trucks were going to exit the St. Lawrence Cement property onto Route 9G, and was unsatisfied with the answer that they would do the same thing they always do: “Look left, look right, and then go.”
“9G is not going to be that easy,” he said. “You’ve got a double curve there.”
Several other board members agreed, saying that traffic coming down the hill on Route 9G couldn’t see the intersection at all because of the curves.
The representative from O&G told the board that the plan was not set in stone, but that it was the best possibility they had come up with, and that it was looked favorably upon by many officials in the Hudson — including Mayor Rick Scalera, who believes that the O&G trucks should definitely be rerouted around the city if at all possible.
“The plan shores up Saint Lawrence Road, and crosses (Routes) 9 and 9G pretty much in a straight line,” he told the Register-Star. “If we can circumvent the city with all these trucks, we should. I know O&G approves of this plan, and I do too.”
Regardless of this support though, many Greenport planning board members remained skeptical of the proposed route.
“You don’t want to solve a political issue by causing a hazardous condition,” said one planning board member, who went on to say that there were several other routes which would not involve crossing potentially dangerous intersections like Routes 9 and 9G.
In the end, Councilman Robert McGiffert proposed that they wait to give O&G site plan approval until they could see the state Department of Transportation recommendation. This was agreed by the Board, and O&G will appear again at the next planning board meeting on Oct. 27 at 7:30 p.m.
***
To reach reporter Paul Crossman call 518-828-1616, ext. 2266, or e-mail pcrossman@registerstar.com. To comment directly on this story, visit our website at www.registerstar.com.
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