New York State held a public hearing in Syracuse last week on a proposed statewide truck policy aimed at keeping large tractor-trailers off of local roads and neighborhood streets. The state’s plan is to use a combination of new regulations and traffic calming to keep trucks on the interstates as much as practicable. However, loose regulatory language could make enforcement of the rules difficult in practice.

Like regulations enacted in NJ last year, the NYSDOT regulations use a tiered approach, breaking the state’s roadways into three groups. Trucks must remain on the National Network except when making pick-ups or deliveries or stopping for food, fuel, rest, or repair. When it is “reasonably necessary” to leave the interstate system, trucks should use the most direct route, sticking first to “State Access Highways,” which are truck routes designated by the NYSDOT. These must have at least a 10-foot lane width and no significant history of truck accidents. As a last resort, trucks may use state highways that are neither qualifying highways nor state access highways if it is “reasonably necessary.” The regulations offer 14 guidelines for drivers to use when deciding whether to use a non-qualifying road, but without clarification of how “reasonably necessary” will be interpreted in practice, enforcement of these rules could prove challenging.

More promising are proposed traffic calming measures for local roads which, according to a press release include “street narrowing, reduced speed limits, medians, designated pedestrian crosswalks, pedestrian refuge islands, roundabouts, landscaping, colored sidewalks, bike lane markings, speed-timed traffic signals and improved signage.” If used wisely, these measures could dissuade trucks from detouring through local roads by making them less hospitable to high-speed truck traffic and more visually distinct from truck-appropriate roads.

The policy will be initially rolled out in the Finger Lakes region of Central New York, where NYSDOT has chosen 15 potential traffic calming sites, before being implemented statewide.