Construction

ESDC's new process to crack down on errant truckers that began last Friday isn't enforced or simply ignored, uncovered dump trucks delivering gravel to arena site are uncovered. Two (2) dump trucks 1 red & 1 white within minutes of each other drive to the arena uncovered on public street.

Forest City Ratner Companies is to provide lidded garbage cans to tenants, property owners, and superintendents of buildings near Atlantic Yards.  The area the cans will be provided extends from the south side of Atlantic Avenue to the south side of Bergen Street, and from the east side of Vanderbilt Avenue to the east side of 4th Avenue.  Only buildings with 12 units or less are eligible.

The map below shows the distribution area which is located largely to the south of the project.  The "pick up site" for the free cans is Forest City Ratner's Community Liaison Office.

In addition, Empire State Development and the New York City Departments of Health and Sanitation will host an educational forum at the Pacific Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library on Wednesday, August 17th from 6-8 pm.  At the forum experts will offer strategies for rodent prevention and answer questions.

The distribution of free garbage cans was first proposed by FCRC at the Atlantic Yards District Service Cabinet July 14th following community complaints and press reports about problems with rodents in the vicinity of project construction.  The cans are one component of a multifaceted approach to reducing the rodent population outside the project footprint.  Along with encouraging prevention inside the project footprint,  the Departments of Health and Sanitation will be inspecting the community to identify existing problems.

another lost arena delivery truck, when trucker drove thru Pacific St bet 6th Ave & Carlton Ave the 1st time why didn't the flagger @ Carlton Ave & Pacific St give proper directions/instructions to entrance location they were looking for?

Atlantic Yards - delivery truck uses Dean St & Carlton Ave instead of official FCR staging area

Atlantic Yards - Dump trucks using Clermont Street but Clermont St not truck route

see: other incident report(s)

Note: Aug 4th 2011 http://atlanticyardswatch.net/node/203

Atlantic Yards - steel delivery after 10 pm - extreme noise

Construction trucks at the Atlantic Yards construction site have repeatedly violated the Amended Memorandum of Environmental Commitments, Barclays Center Truck Rules and Requirements and NYC law.  Clarification of truck routes and enforcement were on the Atlantic Yards District Service Cabinet agenda July 14th, but the meeting ended before the subject was covered.  

Since Saturday July 30th, this website has received ten more incident reports, (all public here), related either to trucks driving the wrong route, driving against traffic, waiting in travel lanes or bus stops, leaving the construction site uncovered, or idling.  Among the streets documented on this website impacted by insufficient coordination of delivery trailers and trucks are Atlantic Avenue, Pacific Street between Carlton and 6th Avenues, Carlton Avenue between Dean and Pacific Streets, Dean Street, South Portland Avenue, and Clermont Avenue.  

The photo above shows cement trucks with mud covered wheels adjusting their positions inside the arena block by shutting traffic down on Atlantic Avenue. The picture below shows a dump truck likely associated with Carlton Avenue Bridge work because it originated at the railyard entrance on Atlantic Avenue near Carlton, turning down Clermont Avenue.  Clermont Avenue is not a designated truck route.

Contractors with MFM began working on Flatbush around 10 pm and cut through the street. At 1 am, a backhoe began breaking through the street cut. However, no permit for the work was listed on the city's web site. A representative with 311 said that even though the permit was not listed on the city's website, the contractors may have received a special variance for the construction. Either way, this work was not listed in the most recent construction update, which is deceiving to residents.

During an overlapping period this morning, a major piece of Sam Schwartz's traffic mitigation plan was tested against weekday traffic for the first time, a job action disrupted construction work at the arena, and a lane of traffic on Atlantic Avenue was closed in order to conduct random radiation tests.

As the picture to the right shows, weekday drivers traveling northbound on 4th Avenue Monday discovered they can no longer continue on 4th Avenue between Atlantic and Flatbush.  Instead they are now expected to turn left on Atlantic to 3rd Avenue where they can continue north, or turn right onto Pacific Street which is now one lane eastbound.  

The traffic mitigations are being put in place at this time because traffic levels are lower than at other times of the year.  The changes in traffic patterns, (actually implemented Saturday), are forced into being by temporary obstructions that will soon be turned into a permanent extended plaza on 4th Avenue between Atlantic and Flatbush, and a "neck-down" at Pacific and Flatbush.

The video above from Saturday shows a Barclays Center construction-related truck disobeying both NYC traffic laws and the ESDC's published truck rules on Pacific Street between 6th Avenue and Carlton.  The truck crosses the 6th Avenue intersection while the north/south traffic on 6th Avenue has a green light, attaches a load waiting in the travel lane and then drives against traffic to block 1129.

This one truck trip is part of a series of steel deliveries on Saturday that were not consistent with either the Barclays Center Truck Rules and Requirements made public by the ESDC, or NYC traffic law. 

Besides the type of violations shown in the video above, two incident reports filed on this website supported by video and photography state the trucks idled on Pacific Street for "hours."  Driving against traffic, using a travel lane as a staging area without permission from DOT, and idling for more than 3 minutes are all against NYC law.

The Barclays Center truck rules require trucks to enter Pacific Street from Vanderbilt Avenue and wait on Pacific Street between Vanderbilt and Carlton until signaled by a flagger to advance.  On Saturday no flagger was present at that intersection and the trucks entered against the traffic into Pacific Street from 6th Avenue.