Friday, December 15, 2017

There Should Be a Better Way . . .

Some have wondered why the drivers of eighteen-wheelers take the truck routes through Hudson in the first place. Unless the truck is making a delivery somewhere within the city limits of Hudson, it's possible to get to the destination without having to deal with city streets. It would be much easier both on our city and on the truck drivers.

Today, a Gossips reader witnessed and photographed a truck in Hudson that had strayed off the truck route. It made a right turn from North Third Street onto State Street, knocking down the street signs in the process, and then proceeded up State Street, where it turned left onto Green Street to rejoin the truck route. 



My source called the police to report what had been witnessed and was told that an off-duty police officer had also witnessed the incident and had taken pictures. Perhaps some action will be taken, and the word will spread among drivers of big rigs that you route yourself through Hudson at your own peril.

What likely happened was the driver of the truck missed the turn onto Columbia Street--the truck route--where the intersection is designed, as much as possible, for big trucks making right turns. If that was the case, there weren't any reasonable alternatives except to turn on the next parallel street and hope it led to the same destination, ripping down street signs in the process. But there should be a way to discourage long-haul truckers from entering Hudson in the first place. 

A few years ago--perhaps as many as ten--there was a problem with trucks barreling through the Village of Kinderhook along Route 9 in the middle of the night. Some investigation discovered that the truckers' GPS was routing them south from Interstate 90 on Route 9 instead of Route 9H, which by-passes the village. Once that was discovered, it was corrected. Wouldn't it be grand if long-haul trucking companies like CFI would start routing their drivers around Hudson instead of through it?
COPYRIGHT 2017 CAROLE OSTERINK

4 comments:

  1. What's worse is that trucks come into Hudson from the East on Green Street and have to make a jog (as do all vehicles) when they meet oncoming traffic head-on at the intersection of Green and Fairview. Traffic heading east has to wait for the oncoming traffic, and because there are usually many cars waiting, there is no place for the first car or two to back up should the oncoming traffic not veer. I cannot believe this kind of scenario -- esp with heavy trucks -- is countenanced.

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  2. It's time to build a WALL around the perimeter of Hudson.
    Ok kids, we need volunteers to be Border Guards.

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  3. Maybe the city should try putting up larger signs that are easier for truck drivers to see. Small truck route signs might be the cause of this problem.

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  4. In addition, maybe additional signs should be posted to make it less likely that trucks will stray from the truck route.

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