TRENTON – Legislation sponsored by Senator Shirley K. Turner prohibiting certain trucks from operating on certain portions of State Highway Route 29 cleared the Senate Transportation Committee today.
The bill, S-3000, amends existing law to codify the provisions of the Department of Transportation’s permanent traffic regulation orders which prohibit heavy trucks from operating on certain portions of State Highway Route 29 from its intersection with Interstate Route 95 to its intersection with State Highway Route 129. Under the bill, trucks and truck-trailer combinations that weigh over 26,000 pounds are prohibited from using Route 29, in both directions of traffic, from its intersection with Interstate Route 95 to its intersection with State Highway Route 129.
“Many people have expressed concerns about Route 29 and the hazards that come along with a busy road like this one,” said Senator Turner. “That portion of the highway is a heavily traveled route which navigates through residential and commercial areas in the City of Trenton. Often heavy trucks carrying hazardous materials barrel down this route and local city streets to get to the dumps over the bridge in Pennsylvania. Their presence in this congested area is dangerous to other motorists and residents in the surrounding neighborhoods. This bill will amend the current law and will provide strict enforcement to ensure these roads remain free of large trucks.”
The bill provides an exemption to this prohibition for emergency vehicles or government owned or leased vehicles. The bill allows vehicles otherwise prohibited from operating on Route 29 under the provisions of the bill to operate on Route 29 between its intersection with Interstate Route 95 and its northern intersection with the Route 29 tunnel in the City of Trenton if the vehicles have an origin or final destination are within three miles of Route 29 or are making an actual pickup, delivery, or providing services at a location on or within three miles of Route 29.
The bill provides that the Commissioner of Transportation may allow vehicles engaged in the commercial transportation of certain rapidly setting concrete mixtures to use Route 29 from its intersection with Interstate Route 95 to its intersection with U.S. Highway Route 1 under circumstances in which adherence to the bill’s prohibitions makes delivery impossible or economically impracticable.
The bill cleared the committee 5-0 and will next head to the full Senate for further consideration.