We're glad to see some progress being made on cutting back on the amount of truck traffic on rural roads, and we urge our elected officials to follow up on the latest improvements because a lot of work remains to be done.

People have complained for years about infrastructure and quality of life issues with regard to the enormous number of truckers who use local roads as shortcuts between major highways and the Seneca Meadows landfill.

Residents and elected officials in Aurora and Skaneateles have been particularly vocal about the potential threat to Cayuga and Skaneateles lakes by garbage haulers using Routes 90 and 20.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer this week met with state and New York City officials and came away with tangible progress: City trash haulers and Seneca Meadows will soon put in writing a promise to keep trucks away from environmentally sensitive areas.

In this area, that should mean no hauling waste on roads bordering area lakes.

But the problem is far from solved.

Questions remain concerning the criteria that will be used for having an area designated “environmentally sensitive.”

And with so many trash-haulers and other trucking companies out there, a legal agreement between New York City's garbage haulers and Seneca Meadows may not reduce the volume of traffic in a way that will make any real difference.

This week's agreement is a great step in the right direction, and it did not require a new state law being passed to make it happen.

We hope this is the first in a series of such moves.

The conversations need to keep happening.

And, if necessary, legislation needs to be passed to keep trucks from spoiling the quality of life for so many in the Finger Lakes.