Residents in the Bronx say that illegally parked semi trucks are causing safety concerns and leaving trash behind, but know that they have nowhere else to go with the current truck parking situation. 

Truckers have been turning North Bronx roads into improvised parking spots for years, and while residents have concerns about driving around these illegally parked trucks, they say the trash that drivers have been leaving behind is equally as distressing. 

“They’re not moving them, and it’s unfortunate that the parking enforcement is not focusing on this part of the Bronx,” says Wakefield resident Anthony Maldonado.

“A lot of trash on the side of the road,” he continued to Bronx News 12.

“You call 311, and that’s the system for the normal person to complain about something that’s not being done by the city. But you’re spending all this money for the system, and nothing is being done,” adding that his wife nearly had an accident on the Major Deegan Expressway when she had to swerve to avoid a truck parked in the road. 

Bronx city Councilman Eric Dinowitz says that he is doing his best to remedy the situation, which he knows can only be truly solved by creating safe, legal truck parking for these drivers. 

“We’ve reached out to the 50th Precinct and they have ramped up enforcement on illegal parking…They say they wrote 20 tickets on Thursday night,” he said. 

“We have reached out to the Department of Transportation commissioner and asked them to take steps to designate tractor trailer rest areas to allow these trucks to stop legally,” Dinowitz continued.

“We are working very hard to both enforce the law, to improve our quality of life, and to find the space for those tractor-trailers so they’re not taking up space on Nereid Avenue, on Webster Avenue, or on the Deegan.”