BUFFALO, N.Y. — There are more concerns being raised about the decision to close off the New York Thruway with major weather events and the potential impact on secondary roads with all the diverted commercial truck traffic.
This stems from the major November lake effect storm, which really had a ripple effect with the Thruway shutdown.
The sight of tractor trailers clogging major routes in Western New York communities with the major November lake effect snowstorm prompted county and town emergency management directors to ask their state counterparts to reassess their blanket decision at times to just shutdown the Thruway.
The original idea with good intentions was to make sure people did not get stranded on the Thruway.
Hamburg Emergency Manager Sean Crotty told 2 On Your Side: "During November we had Route 20, that was just completely shutdown. There was 60 to 75 tractor trailers and cars that were mixed in that otherwise wouldn't be on that roadway, that got diverted off the Thruway."
He added: "So people are just trying to find their way around, so they'll just take Route 20, especially the truckers coming up through Evans and Eden and up through Hamburg. Route 20 is not made to handle that amount of truck traffic. And then you get the snow fall rates in there and we can't effectively get rid of the snow, so we're learning. We've been talking about this for years and years and years but we have to do something different."
Crotty and other Erie County emergency managers met Wednesday with representatives from the Thruway, state DOT, state police and other state offices to ask them to reconsider the I-90 strictly shutdown option.
In Wyoming and Genesee counties, there is a similar assessment with a formal request to the state to again help determine if there is a better way to handle all the diverted truck traffic which clogs up roads like Route 20A or 77.
Wyoming County Undersheriff Colin Reagan says their resources can be stretched too thin under such circumstances.
"We typically run three to four deputies to cover approximately 600 square miles, and that's to provide service to everybody within the county of Wyoming, not just specifically these routes, so it does strain our patrols on certain days like that," Reagan said.
They feel the state is listening with ideas for possible weather adjustments used elsewhere on the Thruway.
Wyoming County Emergency Management Director Brian Meyers says he discussed the issue with those state representatives who said they have used some alternative actions on the Thruway in other parts of the state.
He cited examples.
"A right lane restriction where tractor trailers have to stay in the right lane of the Thruway," Meyers said. "Additional signage starting from Pennsylvania through Rochester, or even out farther depending the area that was impacted where closures could happen. Utilizing E-ZPass as a means to ticket people if the Thruway is closed."
Crotty agrees there are no easy answers but they should explore other options.