![Health & Environmental Impact](/sites/default/files/category-images/comment-category/EJ%20Impacts.png)
This very active Springfield Gardens warehouse is not within the JFK BID district, and it is not a part of the current trucking route (nor should it be in the future). Yet an active trucking warehouse is embedded here, sandwiched in between several Brookville residential communities. As a result, trucks of all sizes (most notably, 18-wheelers) traverse our narrow residential streets, shaking our homes, spewing toxic tailpipe emissions and sending dust particles into our lungs. They sideswipe our parked cars, pull down our overhead utility lines and damage our roads, adding to our disruption, and posing serious health threats and safety hazards, especially to the children at play. This is clearly not suitable activity for an environmental justice community already plagued by airplane noise and air pollution. One of the biggest problems is the movement of 53-foot/18-wheeler trucks through our local streets. Per section 385 of the Vehicle & Traffic Law (https://www.dot.ny.gov/about-nysdot/faq/are-53-foot-long-trailers-allowed-in-nyc), unless they have special permits, 53-foot trucks are allowed only on routes through NYC to reach destinations in Long Island, using specified connections along I-95, I-295 and I-495; and they are allowed to access JFK Airport via the Van Wyck Expressway. However, they are not allowed to make pickups or deliveries in any of the boroughs of New York City. This means that many of the trucks we see may in fact be illegally traveling on our local streets. But there is no way of knowing or tracking this activity, as there appears to be very little effective coordination of monitoring activity with the NYPD. Local Law 171 requires the DOT to engage with communities to inform the redesign of the truck routes. This should include more than a feedback link on a portal. I implore the agency to engage with local community based organizations (such as the Eastern Queens Alliance, Inc., phone# 347-824-2301) and make arrangements to come into our Southeast Queens communities to hear from local residents and to see how they are being impacted by truck traffic. Finally, please do not use this re-design to extend truck routes into our already burdened communities and please do not allow 53-foot trucks to travel along our NYC streets. Our communities have enough environmental burdens to contend with as is.
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