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Residents urge state and industry action as heavy truck traffic snarls Coeymans village
Summary
Residents, business representatives and traffic engineers pressed the Coeymans Town Board to coordinate with New York State DOT, county officials and port operators after multiple public commenters described safety, noise and property damage from heavy truck traffic. County and engineering studies were proposed to identify route alternatives and mitigation.
Residents packed the Coeymans Town Hall hearing to press the town, county and state for action on heavy truck traffic that locals say is making village streets unsafe and damaging homes.
At the Jan. meeting, Lindsay Chut, who lives on Route 32, told the board that long lines of trucks and early-morning loading have amplified risks and disrupted residents’ lives. "The only entity that needs to be held accountable is New York State for not helping with the resolution — these are state roads," she said, urging the town to push the state to act.
Why it matters: Speakers described near-miss crashes, a child struck in summer, vibration damage to building foundations and sleep disruption from early-morning port operations. Residents offered a mix of immediate fixes they can press locally — better signage, targeted enforcement and route windows for oversized loads — and larger steps that require the state: speed-limit changes, route reassignments or a new throughway exit.
Evidence and industry response: Johnny Kesler, a resident who set a trail camera on Jan. 16, said his footage captured "386 trucks headed south on 144" in a 24‑hour period and offered the flash drive to the town for review. Nick Laroway of Carver Companies, which operates at the port, disputed broad claims that traffic "has tripled," saying the port has gone through environmental and planning review and that some recent year-to-year variations were project-driven. "There has certainly not been a tripling of truck traffic into and out of the port of Coeymans," Laroway said, and he urged residents to provide specifics so tenants and trucking companies can be notified about bad actors.
Technical view and the DOT hurdle: Alena Moran of Lancing Engineering, the traffic consultant brought by the port, told the board that DOT is "conservative" about changing established routing and speed limits. She recommended assembling robust traffic counts and enforcement data, and leveraging state lawmakers and the Department of Transportation with a coordinated packet that documents impacts.
What the board will do: The town and county are pursuing two complementary studies — a town-funded road/structural assessment for Mountain Road extension and a county/CRTC-funded route-alternatives study (about $50,000) that would analyze ways to reduce heavy-truck traffic on village streets. The board also plans to press state representatives in Albany; a group hoped to meet with a state office in February to raise the issue.
Next steps: The board asked engineers and county staff to coordinate the data collection and RFP timing so studies do not duplicate effort, and invited port operators to forthcoming meetings including the Jan. 29 joint planning board session. The town encouraged residents to collect evidence of specific bad-actor trucks and forward it to Carver Companies, the police department or the board to help enforcement and tenant notification.
The town set a follow-up timeline with county and state contacts and said staff would circulate study timelines and contact information for residents who want to share evidence.
