In an effort to keep trucks hauling waste from New York City on Interstate 81 and the Thruway, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer will soon meet with the New York City Department of Sanitation and hauling company IESI, Schumer announced in a news release Tuesday.

The truck traffic summit, which will occur sometime in November, is a way for the different parties involved to focus on a solution to a problem that residents of Finger Lakes communities have been complaining about for years.

Citizens have expressed worries about out-of-state garbage haulers that frequently drive on local roads like Routes 20 and 90.

The trucks are said to hop off the interstates to avoid tolls - as well as to save on time and gas money - as they travel to places such as the Seneca Meadows landfill in Seneca Falls, but residents are concerned about the quality of life, environmental and infrastructure issues they say such truck traffic causes.

Last Thursday, the Upstate New York Safety Coalition Task Force hosted a public forum at the Aurora Inn to discuss this very issue.

“Today, the good news is that I've secured the cooperation of Mayor Bloomberg, the NYC Department of Sanitation and IESI to meet to hammer out an enforceable agreement that will keep these garbage trucks off our local roads and put them back on the major highways where they belong. The goal of this meeting is to create a system rooted in accountability so we know these garbage haulers are living up to their end of the bargain,” Schumer said.

Haulers are taking advantage of “flexible language” in the companies' contracts with the Department of Sanitation, language that states trucks should be routed away from areas such as historic sites and parks to the maximum extent possible, he added.

IESI is the largest garbage truck company that hauls trash from NYC to Seneca Meadows; it then subcontracts to other trucking companies to do the actual hauling, according to Schumer's office.

In October 2006, Schumer stood in front of the Sherwood Inn in Skaneateles to announce his plan to keep trucks on the interstates. He later introduced a bill that would require states to designate permanent routes for trucks carrying hazardous materials and the long-distance transportation of solid waste.

Early last week, truck traffic legislation cleared the state Senate, after state Sens. Michael Nozzolio, R-Fayette, and John DeFrancisco, R-Syracuse, cosponsored a bill that aims to put non-local commercial trucks hauling hazardous and municipal waste off rural roads and onto interstates.

The legislation passed by a nearly unanimous vote in the state Senate and now moves onto the Assembly. The law would require the state Department of Transportation to work with the departments of Health and Environmental Conservation in designating truck routes.