Looking for a sign: Staten Island neighborhood seeks fix for truck traffic

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Traffic on the Staten Island Expressway isn’t just a problem on the Staten Island Expressway, according to Sunnyside resident Tom Marchesi.

But he thinks that a simple sign might fix it all.

Marchesi said that 18-wheelers looking to dodge expressway traffic regularly clog the street in front of his and other homes on Little Clove Road, spewing exhaust and making an intolerable racket.

“We’re breathing in those fumes constantly,” said Marchesi. “We can’t sit outside. You can’t imagine the noise. In the summer, when you want to be outside, you’ve got these trucks sitting there. It’s just horrible.”

The problem, according to Marchesi: Trucks that have exited the New Jersey-bound expressway and gotten onto the service road in order to avoid traffic end up on residential Little Clove Road, which is not part of the service road.

That means that lost trucks get stuck on Little Clove, idling in front of homes and causing traffic congestion themselves.

“It’s just impossible,” Marchesi said. “We don’t have an answer. Except that [the trucks] have to stay on the highway.”

Marchesi said that a sign should be placed at the Clove Road entrance to the expressway to tell truckers that they must get back on the highway and pick up the service road at the Todt Hill Road/Slosson Avenue exit, which is the next westbound expressway exit after Clove Road.

Truckers, Marchesi said, need to be told that they “have to stay on that highway, stay in the right lane” if they want the service road.

He said, “We know we can’t stop cars. But do we need 18-wheelers going up Little Clove Road?”

Marchesi pointed out that trucks are prohibited on his section of Little Clove Road except for those making local deliveries.

“In 30 years, I’ve never seen anyone enforce the ‘no truck’,” he said. “What is the use of having a sign?”

The city Department of Transportation said that the agency has “no truck” signage at Renwick Avenue and Little Clove Road to deter trucks from traveling farther west on Little Clove.

Prior to that intersection, DOT said, Little Clove Road is a truck route, so the agency can’t deter trucks from being on Little Clove up to that point.

Enforcement of the “no truck” past Renwick would be an NYPD matter, the DOT said.

When asked about placing variable message signs on the expressway or the service road to alert vehicles that Little Clove Road is not part of the service road, state Department of Transportation Assistant Director of Communications Glenn Blain said that the agency “will look into the matter.”

Marchesi said that some simple highway fixes could also help with the traffic situation on Little Clove Road, including extending the HOV lane on the westbound expressway all the way to the Goethals Bridge, which could improve overall traffic flow and keep more vehicles on the highway.

The HOV lane currently ends just before Victory Boulevard, forcing vehicles to merge back into traffic and causing stoppages. The state DOT has thus far declined to fully extend the HOV lane.

Marchesi also points to the exit-only lane at Bradley Avenue as another cause of traffic that may cause some trucks to jump onto the service road. Motorists improperly use the lane as a travel lane and then must merge back into the highway travel lanes.

“You’ve got two merges,” he said. “[The expressway] slows down, slows down, slows down all the way to the bridge.”

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