Big rig drivers love to keep on truckin’ — right through two bucolic Flatbush neighborhoods.
Residents of Ditmas Park and Prospect Park South claim that trucks rolling through Southern Brooklyn ignore posted truck routes — and their illegal detours are disrupting the peace on their blocks.
“Container truck after container truck clogs up traffic on Caton Avenue, adding to our poor air quality and completely backing up traffic,” said Eva Lewandowski, who lives off of Church Avenue. “I struggle to get my kids across the street when these trucks come by and, when it’s late and there is little traffic, the semis fly down Church Avenue, rattling the windows of my house.”
The Department of Transportation’s truck routes avoid Caton Road completely and turn off Church Avenue at Flatbush Avenue if they are not delivering locally — but residents say trucks routinely thumb their nose at the rules.
Wayward truckers particularly love a stretch of Church Avenue between Flatbush and Bedford avenues, residents claim, fearing that the problem will worsen with the unveiling of the Barclays Center in Fort Greene.
“There is about to be a lot more traffic Downtown with the Nets, and more trucks will break the law and come this way,” said Nathan Thompson, Lewandoski’s husband.
Attempts to reach the trucking companies spotted rolling down Caton Avenue was unsuccessful by Monday evening.
The Department of Transportation referred all questions about truck route enforcement to the NYPD, which did return our calls.
Reach reporter Eli Rosenberg at erosenberg@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-2531. And follow his Tweets at @from_where_isit.
