Warnings Go Up in New Jersey

As state workers posted signs last week banning in-transit truckers from many New Jersey roads, some industry officials complained about the sweep of Gov. Christie Whitman’s emergency order that sought to calm citizens’ ire about truck traffic, especially in rural areas.

The order, which established the restrictions on a temporary basis, originally targeted undivided, two-lane highways, but the governor later expanded the number of roads to avoid confusion.

It will be up to the New Jersey Legislature to make the ban permanent and to impose fines. Until then, New Jersey State Police will simply turn back offending truckers, according to state officials.

Whitman unveiled one of the warning signs July 21 during a ceremony at the intersection of Interstate 95 and Route 29 in Ewing, N.J. Eight days earlier, she had announced that all trucks with trailers more than 48 feet long and 96 inches wide that begin and end their trips outside New Jersey would be restricted to the 545 miles of designated truck highways — essentially all Interstate highways and the New Jersey Turnpike (7-19, p. 1).

Sam Cunninghame, executive director of the New Jersey Motor Truck Association, said he hopes to use the legislative process to make the ban more palatable.

“It’s a bit restrictive right now,” he said. “We’d like to include divided roads with multiple lanes among the legal routes because that was the original intent.”

He also noted that most interstate carriers stick to the national network, an assessment that received a nod of agreement from Robert F. Long, the president of truckload carrier Daily Express of Carlisle, Pa.

For the full story, see the July 26 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.