#truck-traffic

#truck-traffic

I'm a Fix Our Forests Act opponent. We emphasize that removing trees leaves behind slash piles and debris that dry out and become highly flammable. Clearcuts and heavily thinned areas also allow more sunlight and wind to penetrate forests, drying fuels and accelerating fire spread. As one critique puts it, logging causes changes in forest composition and microclimate that favor fires, exposing forests to drying winds and sun.

Starting around 6:15 a.m., traffic was backing up onto the Staten Island-bound Goethals due to congestion at the Forest Avenue/Gulf Avenue exit, according to an alert from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The truck inspection area on the Staten Island-bound side of the span was "closed due to heavy truck traffic," according to an alert around 6:45 a.m. from the Port Authority.

Truck traffic on the Bronx leg of the Triboro Bridge is down this year, belying forewarnings that congestion pricing would funnel trucks into and through the embattled South Bronx communities of Mott Haven and Port Morris, compounding endemic pollution, noise and road danger. Truck traffic, of course, is the heart of darkness on urban streets - its tailpipe emissions, tire and brake abrasion, and sheer bulk sicken and kill. But congestion pricing, which began on Jan. 5, has been good news for the beaten-up neighborhoods.