High winds prompt empty-trailer ban on part of NYS Thruway

Restriction in effect starting at 3 a.m. Thursday

Image: Jim Allen/FreightWaves

Forecasts of wind gusts up to 60 mph have prompted a ban on hauling empty trailers along part of the New York State Thruway in western New York starting at 3 a.m. Thursday.

The ban, according to a message on the New York State Thruway Authority website, stretches from the Interstate 90 Lackawanna Toll barrier to the Pennsylvania line. That covers about 66 miles, from milepost 430.5 to milepost 496.

The authority did not state when the ban, which applies to trucks going in either direction, may be lifted.

Blizzard conditions are expected throughout the region Thursday. The National Weather Service is forecasting wind gusts of 50-60 mph, with heavy snowfall and limited or no visibility at times.

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A copy editor for FreightWaves since 2019, Steve Barrett has worked as an editor and/or reporter for The Associated Press as well as newspapers in Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Nebraska. He also served as a senior managing editor for a medical marketing company, collaborating with some of the nation's most respected health care organizations and specialists in major markets in New York and Pennsylvania. He earned a Master of Mass Communications degree from the University of Georgia and a Bachelor of Arts in English and Spanish from the University of South Dakota.