Gridlock at Columbia and Fifth
Last November, Gossips reported on a standoff at Columbia and Fifth, when an ADM truck and a gravel truck tied up traffic because they couldn't pass each other on Columbia Street. Newsworthy as that event seemed at the time, it paled in comparison with what happened at Columbia and Fifth on Friday: almost total gridlock that lasted for about ten minutes.
According to eyewitness reports, a few drivers got out of their vehicles to try to figure out how to get things moving. Strangely, the Hudson Police officer in the police car that appears in the first picture made no effort to ameliorate the situation but instead took the first opportunity to turn left on Fifth and escape the mess.
The state truck route 9G/23B is the worst traffic plan Hudson has. I've spoken to NYSDOT, Ken Flood and Rick Scalera about this and we seem to be stuck with it. It's the shortest distance between the Rip Van Winkle bridge and points north. From my research on the matter we can remove our state truck routes but we would have to convince Livingston, Greenport and Claverack to take the extra traffic on Routes 9H/23B/66 which would represent the alternative route NYSDOT requires.
ReplyDeleteThere is no doubt in my mind that every resident and business owner along Route 9G/23B hates this truck traffic. It's also doing heavy structural damage to foundations, and affects the integrity of our roads and sidewalks.
I was almost ran over by a huge gravel truck yesterday that ran the stop sign at 1st and Columbia. Second time this happened, they don't stop, just slow down and take a quick look.
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