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