By Howard Koplowitz
Large trucks continue to use Grand and Flushing avenues in Maspeth after the city Department of Transportation instituted a traffic plan last summer prohibiting the trucks from barreling through those streets, business owners on the commercial strip said Friday.
The bypass plan was designed to route trucks that enter and exit the Long Island Expressway around the commercial and largely residential portion of Maspeth. Instead of using Grand and Flushing avenues, the trucks now travel down 58th Street and travel up Maurice Avenue.
The plan, developed by the city Department of Transportation, was approved in July by Community Board 5 after nearly a decade of debate.
“They come by anyway, regardless,” said Al Elayni of Carpetorium Inc. & Decoration, at 64-12 Flushing Ave. “I haven’t noticed much of a difference.”
Delivery trucks are exempt from the regulations.
“Trucks used to get parked up here and got stuck until the cops came and sorted it out,” Elayni said. “It’s not like a remarkable difference” since the new rules went into effect, he said.
While most businesses on Grand and Flushing approve of the plan, a worker at a motorcycle shop said the regulations were a hardship.
“How are we going to get our shipments?” asked an employee of Zoom, at 63-18 Flushing Ave.
An employee of Grand Florist, at 65-37 Grand Ave., said police have their hands full with enforcing the bypass plan.
“Once a week the cops are here pulling everybody over,” he said.
Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at hkoplowitz@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4573.
