Allan Appel Photo
New Haven’s port is getting a truck stop with a modern twist. Think electric hook up for heat and air conditioning, Internet access — and no diesel fumes from huge idling engines polluting the air. In fact no fumes whatsoever.
Thursday afternoon officials gathered at the corner of Stiles and Alabama in the Port Authority of New Haven to break ground for the planned truck stop, which they called the first electrification project in a port in the United States.
They described a well lit drive-in without screen where 14 short or long-haul truckers can pull in and hook up, two to a tower, and have all the conveniences for between one and eight hours.
Except no movie and no popcorn. In fact not much of anything except what they bring with them. But the key point is that they can access electricity with their heavily polluting diesel engines off.
That’s what trucks offloading or picking up from the port will be doing beginning July, when the project is expected to be complete.
Currently the trucks idle all along Stiles Avenue entering the port area and even along Route 1. That contributes big time to pollution and waste.
Smack dab between I‑91 and I‑95, the sprawling port collects nitrous oxide, particulate matter-full, asthma-promoting air, said Christine Tang, the director of the city’s Office of Sustainability (pictured with Mayor John DeStefano).
Also on hand were Port Authority Executive Director Judi Sheiffele and its president, John Russo.
Giovanni Zinn (pictured) of the city’s Office of Sustainability spearheaded the effort to secure a federal grant of $380,256, which will pay Laydon Industries to prepare the site and the CabAire company of Enfield to install the electrification “towers.”
The money comes from the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the “Stimulus”) via the state Department of Environmental Protection. Zinn said the money could have been used for a number of pollution-mitigating projects. Getting truckers not to idle by giving them this alternative emerged as the priority target.
Current law forbids idling for more than three minutes in Connecticut. The port has signs to that effect. But extended idling takes place anyway. The new electrification stop is seen as a way to combat that.
“It’s a question of changing [truckers’] habits. Habits die hard,” Zinn said. Offering alternatives can help.
CabAire’s Director of Marketing Daniel Shanahan called the project a win-win for everyone involved, especially the truckers: “Idling consumes a billion gallons a year. One hour idling consumes one gallon [of diesel fuel].” He added that over time idling destroys 40 percent of an engine’s lifespan.
Zinn said that 14 trucks should take care of the daily need in the port area for the foreseeable future. The Port Authority’s Shieffle added that the stop will be marketed beyond the port. “We’re going to try to get the info out to [the truckers passing on] I‑95,” she said.
The site will not be a full service rest stop; there will be no convenience stores or bathrooms; many of the long-haulers contain their own sleeping births and toilets.
And it will not be free. Shieffle said the price per hour would be set slightly lower than the price of a gallon of diesel.
Russo added that if word gets out and the truckers come, the authority has other land for additional spots.
The nearest similar truck electrification stop is in Stonington, but New Haven’s is the first in the state and country in a port area, Shanahan said.
All told his Enfield-based company has created 28 TSE’s or truck stop electrification spots in Pennsylvania –not locations but total number of hook opportunities— 86 in New Jersey and by far the largest number in Connecticut: 130, including New Haven’s pending spot.
Other plans in the works include electrification of two of the piers in the port so ships can “plug in” and save their fossil fuel, just as the truckers will soon be able to do.
Work on the site is expected to begin next week.