From Atlantic Yards Watch: trucks continue to leave railyard site and use residential street

From Atlantic Yards Watch, Not an isolated incident: truck use of residential Clermont Avenue is widespread:

More than a dozen videos, taken over the course of a single week, document repeated illegal use of Clermont Avenue by fully loaded dump trucks leaving the project site from the Carlton Avenue brige exit. As the videos show, trucks exiting the Carlton Avenue bridge site on to Atlantic make the first left on to Clermont, departing from NYC's designated truck route. Clermont Avenue is a residential street of three story townhouses and a public housing complex and is the location of two public playgrounds (one is part of the Atlantic Terminal Housing; the other, the Cuyler Gore playground, is at intersection of Clermont and Lafayette).

The videos were recorded on three days, August 15, 18 and 19 (There is an AY Watch incident report for each day; while each day's report documents multiple violations.) Most of the trucks had ‘LMC Trucking - USDOT: 1501837’ as vehicle identifiers.

Here's one example:


Truck routes

From Atlantic Yards Watch:

The use of a residential street as a truck route violates NYC City law as well as the Barclays Center Delivery Truck Rules and Requirements,  which is part of the project's of Amended Memorandum of Environmental Commitments,  to be enforced by ESD and Forest City Ratner.

Note that the map below delineates only the Barclays Center site, not the railyard site, but the same truck routes still apply--and Clermont Avenue is clearly not a truck route.

What next?

From Atlantic Yards Watch:

The issue of trucks on residential streets was to be discussed at the July 14 Atlantic Yards District Service Cabinet meeting, but the meeting ended before the subject was covered. While Forest City Ratner has made some improvements in enforcement of truck requirements, particulary in wheel washing before trucks exit the site, the issue of trucks using residential streets may require coordination with NYPD. NYPD has yet to send a representative to a district service cabinet meeting.

The next meeting of the Service Cabinet will take place on September 15.

It will be at 9:30 pm at Brooklyn Borough Hall. The public is welcome to observe but may ask questions only by submitting them beforehand, to the three affected Community Boards (2,6,8), the Borough President's office, Empire State Development, or local elected officials (Council Member Letitia James always attends).

Late yesterday, I also submitted a query to Empire State Development, the state agency that oversees the project. The agency has previously taken action to try to curb trucks that were leaving the site with their contents uncovered.