This report offers some encouraging news about truck traffic. While the number of trucks on the roads has been on the rise, there appears to be a move by the states to tackle the issue, which in turn may force the courts to rethink their rather narrow conception of what can be done about the problem.
South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
E-mail me by clicking here.
State Transportation Commissioner Kris Kolluri is convinced that the state’s truck route hierarchy makes sense. He told the Princeton Packet that portions of some state highways — such as Route 31 in Ewing or Route 9 in Toms River, — have been excluded
because of dimensional conditions, Commissioner Kolluri said Tuesday. He said roadways identified with hazardous bridge clearances or narrow widths, less than 11 feet, cannot handle the larger vehicles.
“It is not a political calculus whether a road is prohibited or not,” Mr. Kolluri said. “My prediction is at the end of this process there will be less trucks not more on Route 206.”
That seems unlikely. The regulations are written in such a way that truckers will be allowed to claim the route they are using is the shortest distance between destinations, allowing them to get around the restrictions on what are really local roadways.
As I said in my Dispatches column yesterday, Routes 27 and 206 are residential and business thoroughfares that were not designed to handle big rigs. That’s why the people in South Brunswick, Franklin, Princeton and Lawrence are so concerned.
South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
Today’s Dispatches is up — it is on the new state truck access network, which is to include Routes 27 and 206, creating problems for local residents, businesses and drivers along the corridor.
South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
Consider this a first draft of Thursday’s Dispatches column:
Route 27 cannot handle more truck traffic – especially, extra-wide tandem trailers.
That’s why it is important that the South Brunswick and Franklin township councils join the two Princetons in trying to remove the roadway from the state’s new big-rig network.
Route 27 – along with numerous other county and state roads – have been included in the network, which was proposed by the state Department of Transportation to comply with a federal court decision invalidating a state truck route limiting big-rig access.
The 2006 decision by the federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals lifted restrictions on truck traffic put in place by then-Gov. Christie Todd Whitman that, according to the DOT, limited access to “state highways that have physical characteristics that detract from suitability to be included in the large truck network” if the truck routes either did not begin of end in New Jersey.
The new regulations give larger trucks access to a proposed statewide New Jersey Access Network — a series of local roadways and state highways that include Route 27 — if they are stopping for food and fuel or if they are attempting to reach the next terminal by the shortest distance or the most direct route.
The proposal has Kingston residents concerned, given how close many of the village’s buildings are to the roadway. They want the council in Franklin and South Brunswick to pass resolutions – which they plan to do on Feb. 13 — calling for Route 27 to be removed from the network, resolutions similar to those adopted by the two Princetons and Lawrence Township in January.
Lawrence officials are making the same argument about Route 206.
“We need trucks to make commerce work in the area,” Mayor Greg Pulitti said earlier this month. “But we don’t need large trucks putting wear and tear on our local roads, particularly when they are not involved in making local deliveries.”
To some, the arguments might seem narrow and parochial. A response on our Web site was highly critical of the Princetons’ plans to seek exemptions for Routes 27 and 206.
“Perhaps Princeton and Princeton Borough would like to experience life with out truck transport of product,” the writer said. “I used to work up near Princeton at Lawrenceville. I’m thinkin’ all those nice folks up there wouldn’t be pleased if the malls, etc., in that area suddenly ran out of consumable goods, industries couldn’t get their raw materials, etc.”
But no one is attempting to keep goods from the stores. Deliveries could still be made; short cuts, however, are another story.
And this seems wholly appropriate. Nassau Street (Route 27 through downtown Princeton) and Bayard and Stockton streets (Route 206) are not nearly wide enough for the big rigs. The same goes for Main Street (Route 27) in Kingston and Route 27 between Finnegan’s Lane and Henderson Road, while the section between Henderson and Route 518 is dotted with stores and housing developments and the stretch between Route 518 and Kingston is lined with housing.
Just as important is the availability of legitimate alternatives – especially Route 1, which is wider and designed to handle the traffic. So get the trucks off Routes 27 and 206.
South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
Hank Kalet 