Future plans for dredging site
FORT EDWARD, N.Y. -- If you think you’re eating local, think again. New York does rank high among the top states for agricultural products, but one of the challenges is transportation.
Right now, there are trucks carrying apples, cabbage and onions leaving upstate that need to take their loads downstate to New York City. But because of the traffic patterns, they'll have to travel through New Jersey and sit in city traffic. There's a time factor and fuel factor, loading and unloading, using a half a million dollar truck and the cost of a driver.
"That's a real disincentive for a small producer from Central New York or Elmira," said Preston Gilbert, who is a professor at the SUNY Center for Brownfield Studies.
But Gilbert thinks he found a better way.
"Concentrate everything in one place so that it spurs development but also reduces truck and traffic congestion," said Gilbert.
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And Gilbert thinks the site of the Hudson River dredging project will be perfect for this once the PCBs are cleaned up.
"This site is unique. There is no place anywhere like it in the state," said Gilbert.
That's because General Electric already invested in state of the art infrastructure. Sewer, water and electric and perhaps the most crucial to Gilbert's plans, a rail system.
"It is connected to Buffalo. It is connected to Montreal. It is connected on the east side of the Hudson River to New York City," said Gilbert.
So apples from the Finger Lakes, wine and cheese, will all come into Fort Edward on freight train. From here, cartons of milk might get loaded on for the trip too. It will all chug along the east side of Hudson River, into Harlem River yards and from there, be distributed into NYC.
"It's really a win-win situation," said Gilbert.
It has the potential to remove thousands of trucks from the road, cut emissions and shorten delivery time from two to three days to 20 hours. So your upstate apple will get to you a lot sooner.
"We are strengthening agriculture, which is keeping land in production. The best way to keep sprawl from happening is keeping farmer financially viable," said Gilbert.
Gilbert says he understands some people may have anxiety about using a former PCB cleanup site, but he says the dredging site was built with this future project in mind.