By Mark Rosman
Monmouth County officials are getting behind a plan to study truck volume in the farthest western reaches of the county.
Action taken by the county Board of Freeholders follows a request from Allentown’s mayor and Borough Council for an investigation of and relief from hundreds of trucks municipal officials say pass through the community every day.
On June 8, the freeholders expressed their support for an application for the 2018-19 fiscal year for a freight related transportation study in western Monmouth County and southern Mercer County with the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA) and the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT).
The freeholders said they have been advised of the availability of grant funding from the NJTPA/NJIT for fiscal year 2018-19. The freeholders said the comprehensive freight related transportation study would encompass Allentown and Upper Freehold Township in Monmouth County and Robbinsville in Mercer County.
According to a resolution passed by the board, “the … transportation planning study will allow for a better understanding of freight related travel needs in this area and provide county planners, engineers and policy makers with a comprehensive approach to truck routing and other strategies to meet freight related travel needs in ways that are compatible with other travelers’ needs in this area.”
Monmouth County will appropriate $62,000 as its share of the study. Grant funding will be provided by the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration in the amount of $248,000, according to the resolution.
In November, the Allentown council adopted an ordinance that bans trucks weighing more than 4 tons from the borough’s streets.
In addition to prohibiting trucks weighing more than 4 tons from borough streets, the ordinance prohibits trucks weighing more than 4 tons from certain Monmouth County routes that run through Allentown.
The ordinance states that trucks weighing more than 4 tons gross vehicle weight “are hereby excluded from the following county roads and all borough streets, except vehicles will be permitted on all streets for the purpose of pick-up and delivery of materials and on route to parking…”
In regard to county routes, trucks weighing more than 4 tons will be prohibited on:
• Main Street (Route 539/524) from Probasco Drive to Allentown-Yardville Road.
• Allentown-Yardville Road (Route 524) from Main Street to Breza Road (Allentown-Upper Freehold Township border).
• Church Street (Route 526) from the Robbinsville-Allentown border to Main Street.
• Waker Avenue (Route 526) from the Upper Freehold Township-Allentown border to Main Street.
• High Street (Route 539) from the Upper Freehold Township border to Main Street.
