For the second day in a row, due to heavy snow across New York state, tractors trailers are banned from the mainline Thruway. Bob Rich III, President of ROAR Logistics, in Buffalo says, it snows every year and every year the state reacts differently. Rich says, I-90 is an integral part of the supply chain for the Northeast, Midwest and into Canada.
"When you cut off the supply chain to get food - to get products moving in to these effected areas - you're essentially not responding in a proactive manner to a disaster. And situations like this could very well be considered disasters," Rich said.
And with thousands of truck drivers, warehouse workers, dispatchers and others relying on commerce to earn a living, Rich says, Governor Andrew Cuomo needs to come up with a better plan for the Thruway.
"My proposal would be that we spend more money putting more plows on the road. Making sure that we have adequate salt so that we can clear the roads. But it's staying on top of it. It's building a proactive infrastructure and disaster preparedness model to say that every year we're not going to be crippled," Rich said.
Barring trucks from the I-90, he says, is costing ROAR Logistics alone $30,000 to $50,000 per day.