Abinanti Repeats Call For Height Restrictors At Parkway Entrances - Again!

“Trucks on parkways are a hazard not just to bridges but to passenger vehicles legally on the roads. How many more bridges have to be hit before we take effective action?” said New York State Assemblyman Tom Abinanti (D-Greenburgh/Mt. Pleasant) as he again repeated his call for the installation of height barriers at the entrances to Westchester parkways after a U.S. Army truck hit a Hutchinson River Parkway bridge this afternoon.

Abinanti’s proposed law would require the DOT to install height-restrictor bars across the entrances most frequently used by oversized trucks to discourage trucks from entering the parkways.

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

“Even the U.S. Army can’t figure out what’s permitted on parkways,” said Abinanti. “We need to communicate with truck drivers before they enter parkways. This should send a message to DOT.”