NYSDOT Drafts Plan To Ban Commercial Vehicles From Parkway

ALBANY, NY (06/21/2011)(readMedia)-- Commercial Vehicle Exclusion study detailing the department's proposal to prohibit commercial vehicles from using Onondaga Lake Parkway – Route 370 – between I-81 and the Village of Liverpool. Commercial traffic would be directed to Old Liverpool Road instead.

"Banning all commercial vehicles from the Onondaga Lake Parkway will significantly enhance our efforts to end over-height vehicle crashes into the low-clearance CSX railroad bridge over the roadway," Commissioner McDonald said. "We encourage the public to comment on this proposal, which is just one of a series of aggressive measures the State Department of Transportation is taking to improve traffic safety on this busy parkway."

Clearance under the CSX bridge is 11 feet, nine inches, but the bridge is posted to prohibit vehicles more than 10 feet, nine inches from going underneath in order to avoid crashes into it.

Tractor trailers and vehicles more than 10 feet, nine inches high already are banned from traveling the parkway. NYSDOT officials are proposing to extend the ban to all commercial vehicles following the completion last month of a traffic safety study that recommended it. That study, the Onondaga Lake Parkway Project Scoping Report, was released on May 26.

The report concluded that because the majority of vehicles more than 10 feet, nine inches in height are commercial vehicles, excluding all commercial vehicles from the Onondaga Lake Parkway will reduce the potential number of impacts to the CSX Railroad bridge by motorists who may be unaware of their vehicles' dimensions. Under the ban, motorists driving commercial vehicles will no longer be able to legally travel Onondaga Lake Parkway and would have to use alternate routes, such as Old Liverpool Road, to reach their destinations.

The Commercial Vehicle Exclusion report originally contained in the Onondaga Lake Parkway Project Scoping Report has been modified to include information about the cost of a commercial vehicle ban and potential environmental impacts. The exclusion report can be accessed on-line as either a PDF or a Microsoft Word document at the following links:

https://www.nysdot.gov/news/repository/DraftOnondagaLakeParkwayCommercialVehicleExclusionReport.doc

https://www.nysdot.gov/news/repository/DraftOnondagaLakeParkwayCommercialVehicleExclusionReport.pdf

Comments on the commercial vehicle exclusion may be sent by email to: ParkwayCommercialExclusion@dot.state.ny.us. Written comments can be mailed to the attention of the Regional Director, NYSDOT Region 3, 333 East Washington Street, Syracuse, NY 13202. All comments must be received by July 19, 2011.

In addition to the commercial vehicle restriction, NYSDOT is moving forward with the installation of improved signs on I-81 and other area roads directing travelers to the bus and train station. NYSDOT also plans to install an over-height vehicle detection and warning system on the parkway so that the drivers of vehicles too tall for the bridge can stop before reaching it. These safety enhancements, which are in addition to many already implemented, are anticipated to be in place by the end of this construction season.

A double-decker coach bus crashed into the CSX railroad bridge last September, killing four people and injuring others. The driver has been charged with criminally negligent homicide. A truck struck the bridge on May 11, but no injuries or damage to the bridge occurred.

Since last fall, the State Department of Transportation has taken a variety of steps to improve traffic safety on the Parkway and ensure that the drivers of over-height vehicles are aware of the bridge:

• A 30 mile-per-hour speed limit was extended about 900 feet to the east to slow traffic near various park entrances;
• Electronic signs showing vehicular speeds have been used at different locations to discourage aggressive driving;
• Local police agencies, including the Onondaga County Sheriff's Department, have stepped up traffic enforcement on the highway at NYSDOT's request;
• Centerline rumble strips, or audible roadway delineators, were installed Monday between the eastbound and westbound lanes to alert drivers when they are in danger of crossing into the opposing highway travel lane;
• NYSDOT crews early this spring removed brush and trees to make the bridge and the signs leading up to it more visible. There are seven signs eastbound and 13 signs westbound that warn of the low bridge and its 10'9" clearance, including three in each direction within ¾ of a mile of the bridge, three of them with flashing beacons;
• "Low bridge Ahead" pavement markings were installed last month in advance of the CSX bridge in both directions to augment the many highway signs; and
• A closed-circuit camera was installed to feed into the regional Traffic Management Center to monitor activities near the bridge. Two additional cameras are scheduled to be installed this year.