How Hudson City Hall Adds More Toxins To Our Air And Our Lungs

Traffic on S. 3rd Street waiting
for a green light that lasts just 
20 seconds

The timing of the traffic lights on South 3rd Street at Union and Allen Streets is a fine example of how Hudson City Hall does not take care of its residents as best it could and should.  In just about any other city in America, this situation would never have arisen.

ADM truck on S. 3rd Street, 3rd
in line at the Union Street light

What I witnessed and took pictures of today on South 3rd Street is the problem in a nutshell:  A grain truck from the ADM plant in Greenport, headed south on 3rd Street, waited for at least 20 seconds at the red light at Union Street, with two cars ahead of it. The first car in line eventually made it past the next traffic light at Allen, 320 feet away.  The second car turned onto Union, while the ADM truck had to stop at the Union Street traffic light 320 feet away because the light had already turned red a few seconds before the truck arrived.  The driver of the huge, diesel burning and toxin emitting truck waited 30 seconds for the light at Allen to turn green,  and then proceeded out of town, free of any more traffic lights. 

The ADM truck arrived in line at the Union Street light and waited for about 20 seconds for the light to change.  It arrived at the next red light at Union 20 seconds later, then waited for 30 seconds to proceed past that light.  It took that truck at least one minute ten seconds to travel all of 320 feet!  Of course, most of that time was not spent moving, but standing still and idling its enormous, loud, foul diesel engine.  

40 seconds and 320 feet later,
 1st in line at another 30 second
red light

If one stands at the intersection of Partition and S. 3rd, along our truck route, it is not uncommon to see long lines of cars and trucks waiting on S. 3rd at the 2 lights -- especially in the morning.  ADM and Colarusso trucks are regulars, headed in and out of town, along with trucks of all sizes, weights, shapes and loudnesses.  There is no shortage of cars, of course.  South 3rd Street is a busy and important artery for traffic headed in and out of town.  Keeping traffic moving, not waiting, is important.  At least it should be.

Union at 3rd, with no traffic. 
30 second green light.

Allen at 3rd, with no traffic. 
30 second green light.

What you will almost never see on Allen or Union Streets are lines of cars waiting for their traffic lights above S. 3rd to turn green.   Why is that?  Well, neither of those streets is heavily travelled (certainly not Allen).  Yet, the green lights for all 4 directions of traffic on those 2 streets last 30 seconds.  Their red lights last just 20 seconds.  The norm along Allen and Union is zero, one, or two cars waiting for the 20 second red light to change.  While traffic on S. 3rd is waiting for the red lights to change, hardly any traffic on Union and Allen can be seen crossing or entering 3rd Street.  A majority of the time, the 30 second green lights shine for no one, especially on Allen.

Again:  The four green lights for the two traffic lights on S. 3rd, a major artery of the city, last just 20 seconds.  Their red lights last 30 seconds.  The green lights for traffic on both Union and Allen last 30 seconds, and their red lights last just 20 seconds.

A few minutes after the ADM truck made it out of town today, a tractor trailer waited at the Union Street light, also headed out of town, this time first in line.  Before it had crossed Allen Street, before it passed under the Allen Street light, that light had already turned yellow.  I have seen trucks first in line so heavy and slow that they do not make it past the next light.  A slow moving, heavy truck is so obscenely loud!  Tractor trailers full of gravel starting from a stop are so obscenely loud!  These are the trucks that should be stopped as infrequently as possible.

When there are 4 or more cars waiting at the red lights at Union or Allen, typically only 3 of them make it past the next intersection.  If the 4th car makes it, it is usually running a red light.  Cars that are forced to wait to turn make things even slower for those behind.  Unsurprisingly, seeing cars and trucks run red lights on South 3rd is common.  Most of the regular truck drivers (especially those from Colarusso) know that the green lights on S. 3rd are ridiculously short, and they have to gun it to beat the red.  Many just run the yellow and, often, the red. 

The green lights along the rest of the truck route -- at State, 6th, 5th, 4th, 3rd and Warren -- all last 30 seconds.  S. 3rd Street?  20 seconds!  It makes a ton of sense, doesn't it?

Curious as to why the duration of the lights seemed backwards to me, at a recent Common Council meeting I asked DPW Superintendent Robert Perry about the traffic lights.  He told me (and the council) that the green lights at Union and Allen used to be 30 seconds each, but so many drivers were racing to beat the red lights that he needed to SHORTEN the duration of the green lights.  This was done several years ago at the request of several residents, according to Mr. Perry.  Not one council member asked Mr. Perry how shortening the green lights would improve matters.  This was at the same meeting, in regard to a separate traffic issue, where Mr. Perry admitted that only the Police Commissioner has the authority to modify traffic control devices.  He also said that DPW is only in the "pick it up and put it in business."

A Hudson Police Officer (of ten years) recently agreed with me that the green lights on S. 3rd Street were unnecessarily and unhelpfully short.  He had no idea why the green lights were so short.

Thanks to City Hall, more trucks idle on S. 3rd Street than is necessary.  More cars idle on S. 3rd Street than is necessary.  We all breath dirtier air, as cars and trucks idle unnecessarily on S. 3rd Street.  We are all at a higher risk of getting cancer and other diseases.  Children are more susceptible to asthma (the Youth Center is located on S. 3rd Street near Union).  Hudson is a louder place, unnecessarily so. The earth's atmosphere has more greenhouse gases in it, thanks to the short green lights on S. 3rd Street.

That ADM truck that took over a minute to travel 320 feet?  Multiply it by dozens or hundreds every day.  Hundreds of trucks unnecessarily sitting still, or barely moving, every day on S. 3rd Street, spewing all sorts of nasty toxins into the air and into our lungs and brains, all because the green lights on S. 3rd last 10 seconds shorter than the green lights on Allen, Union and along the rest of the truck route.  Hundreds of cars idling unnecessarily every day on S. 3rd Street, also fouling the air, waiting for the short green light to appear again.  Why? 

Who at city Hall is not 
paying attention?

If the green lights on S. 3rd were to last 30 or 40 seconds instead of 20 seconds, a few more cars and trucks for each cycle of lights would make it through the intersection instead of waiting and idling unnecessarily.  Over the course of a day, a week, a month, a year and so on, the benefits really start to add up.

DPW is supposed to be making sure that traffic (ESPECIALLY TRUCKS) moving in and out of Hudson is as efficient, quick and safe as possible.  DPW should also be doing its best to keep idling vehicles (ESPECIALLY TRUCKS) to a minimum.   Apparently, neither Robert Perry nor Shane Bower is interested in either one of these things.  Do you suppose Mayor Johnson has any interest?

If you care about your health and the health of those around you; if you care about the future of the planet; if you are annoyed by the short green lights when driving on S. 3rd; if you feel that the 20 second green lights on S. 3rd Street are unacceptable, I urge you to reach out to Mr. Perry, Mr. Bower and the mayor to tell them how you feel.  Tell them all that we don't need MORE idling vehicles in Hudson, we need FEWER idling vehicles, especially trucks, in Hudson.  Tell them that the trucks are causing us all enough trouble, and making the situation worse than it needs to be is in no one's interest.

The main DPW phone number is 518 828 9458

The Mayor's Office phone number is 518 828 7217

The Police Commissioner may be able to be reached at 518 828 3388

Or attend a council meeting in person and offer your opinion.