Abinanti Repeats Call for Height Restrictors at Parkway Entrances

New York State Assemblyman Tom Abinanti (D-Greenburgh/Mt. Pleasant) today yet again repeated his call for the installation of height barriers at the entrances to Westchester parkways and his call for the State Department of Transportation to review the configuration and signage at parkway entrances.

Abinanti’s call follows another truck slamming into the King Street overpass on the Hutchinson Parkway in Westchester County.

“Must we wait for someone to get killed before the State takes common sense, effective action?” asked the Assemblyman, rhetorically.

To discourage trucks from entering the parkways, Abinanti has repeatedly called for DOT to install height-restrictor bars across the entrances most frequently used by oversized trucks and to review the entrances and signage.

Frustrated at the lack of DOT response, Abinanti has proposed a law that would require DOT to act.

Abinanti noted that similar height barriers are already used to keep large and heavy vehicles out of parking lots and other low-ceiling structures. A similar physical device stretches across the northbound lanes of the Henry Hudson Parkway in Manhattan. In addition, height restrictors have been installed at roadway entrances/exits in the greater Boston area (see picture above).

“It’s time for ‘Boston-style’ height barriers in Westchester County – especially for those ramps where oversized trucks repeatedly enter,” said Abinanti. “If Massachusetts can get it right, why not New York?”

Then a county legislator, Abinanti first suggested installing physical warning devices in 2001 to protect the Bronx River Parkway.

“Trucks on parkways are a hazard not just to bridges but to passenger vehicles legally on the roads,” said Abinanti. “We need to communicate with truck drivers before they enter parkways.”