State DOT has fleet of trucks designed to HELP broken-down drivers, including during State Fair
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV)– To get to his job at the State Department of Transportation, Michael Link had to make a career U-turn.
“I was a bank manager once,” he said. “I got into selling mortgages.”
He went from counting money to clocking miles.
“When I first got hired, I was not very good at it,” Link said about his first days with the DOT.
Now he’s so good, he supervises the local HELP Trucks. HELP stands for Highway Emergency Local Patrol, which scours highways for broken-down vehicles.
He said: “We remove the debris from the roadway, truck tires, things of that nature. Pretty much whatever they need us to do; we’re going to do.”
HELP Trucks have been around in other regions of New York State for decades, but are relatively newer to Central New York. Two local trucks patrol I-81, I-481, and I-690 during morning and evening rush hours.
He’s a literal lifeline for stranded drivers, whether it’s a flat tire, empty gas tank, or unpredictable emergency.
On board with him: extra gas, tools, air for tires, and more. If a mechanic is needed, he’ll use his lights and electronic message board to divert traffic around the idle vehicle he’s helping.
“If you see anything with flashing lights, please move over. Somebody’s life could depend on it, whether it’s me or my friends who drive tow trucks or the nice people who do the work on our roads, like the DOT. Let us go home.”
After his fourth crash, he almost didn’t go home. It happened while he was on his route on I-481.
He said: “The only thing that saved me was that I was on was the passenger side. That guy hit the help truck and swiped the entire driver’s side. If I had been working there, I would most certainly have been dead.”
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