No Trucking Way! What NYC’s Truck Route Redesign Means for Sunset Park

Katie Walsh

No Trucking Way! What NYC’s Truck Route Redesign Means for Sunset Park
A tractor-trailer moves through the split roadway beneath the Gowanus Expressway on Third Avenue in Sunset Park. Photo by John DeLooper.

Four years ago, the New York City Department of Transportation undertook a comprehensive community engagement process to redesign Sunset Park’s Third Avenue, one of the most dangerous and congested corridors in Brooklyn. DOT committed to return to the community with a fleshed-out design following Community Board 7’s vote on what was promised as the safest design option, with improved pedestrian infrastructure, better crossings and more lighting, accessibility improvements for bus routes along Third Avenue, and green infrastructure enhancements that would help manage stormwater and local air pollution.

Then DOT disappeared on the promised redesign, with no explanation to the community for the delay, though reportedly due to pressure from the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce.

Tragically, last summer, two more neighbors were killed crossing Third Avenue in Sunset Park. But this resulted in no action from DOT to improve the safety of the avenue, leaving it to the next mayoral administration.

And now, in a redesign of New York City’s truck route network, with a DOT public hearing on the proposed rule on Tuesday, June 9, the proposed truck route redesign will further mire Third Avenue with congestion, pollution, and dangerous truck traffic. And to add to that: a new truck route on Second Avenue.

How did this happen?

Local Law 171, introduced by District 38 City Councilmember Alexa Avilés and passed in 2023, mandates that DOT redesign the city truck route network. DOT says the redesign is meant to “better align with Vision Zero goals, support industrial and commercial needs, and reduce the burden of truck traffic on residential neighborhoods, where possible.”

In what world does this plan align with that vision?

In the proposed truck route redesign, Sunset Park yet again disproportionately shares the burden of New York’s growing truck-related demands, especially from the rise of last-mile trucking facilities, which house the kinds of goods you might order from Amazon that end up at your door the next day.

Not only does it increase this inequitable burden on a community that has some of the highest asthma rates and dangerous stretches of road in the city, it is also at odds with years of community-led efforts to organize for safer streets, cleaner air and an alternative vision for how people and goods move around New York City. And it flies in the face of commitments made by DOT and Mayor Mamdani’s administration to uphold the values that they say they represent: “a new era of local government that works for its people — instead of making backroom deals to prevent the installation of life-saving street safety upgrades.”

Is the proposed truck redesign in the best interest of Sunset Park? Or does it uphold the legacy of a past that prioritized the voices of a few over the needs of the whole community?

Our city’s rulemaking process means that changes like the proposed truck route redesign are open for public comment, but time is running out. You can sign up to testify at DOT’s hearing on June 9 or submit comments by visiting https://rules.cityofnewyork.us or by emailing rules@dot.nyc.gov.