Signers of the letter reiterated their concerns at a press conference Tuesday in front of NYC DOT's offices.

The letter asked the City to revise elements of the contract for a study about to begin that will recommend a new NYC truck route plan. The Council Members and organizations want the city to make safety and lessening impacts like noise, air pollution and vibration damage to buildings explicit criteria for planning truck routes. They also want new policies for keeping the trucks on the designated routes, since trucks now seem to drive where they will.

"Trucks run through residential neighborhoods endangering pedestrians, spewing pollution, creating noise and damaging buildings," said John Liu of the Queens Civic Congress. "It is time that they be routed to prevent this damage."

In response, City DOT officials told Newsday "[our] goal is always safety first, which includes minimizing the impact of trucks on residential neighborhoods." But it is unknown at this point whether the city will answer the Council members and groups' concerns substantively and explicitly build these issues into the truck route study.

City Council Member A. Gifford Miller of the Upper East Side, chair of the Council's long-range planning task force, said residential neighborhoods he represents are inundated by trucks and that DOT should change the scope of its study to avoid future fights over truck traffic and routes. In a statement, Council Member Michael Abel of eastern Queens said "[truck impact and route problems] would not exist if the needs of communities were given priority in the planning process."