Three towns team up to fight Rt. 27 truck laws
BY CHRIS GAETANO
Staff Writer

SOUTH BRUNSWICK - South Brunswick, North Brunswick and Franklin townships have hammered out the framework in which they will join together in opposing new trucking regulations on Route 27. The three towns plan to enter an interlocal agreement to put together an engineering and traffic report describing to the state just how unsuitable the road is for large trucks to pass through.

"It's not just a matter of sending a resolution to the DOT [Department of Transportation] saying please except us; there's a lot of work involved, engineering work, police work, staff work," said Township Manager Matthew Watkins.

Watkins said that he and his counterparts from North Brunswick and Franklin hammered out an agreement in 15 minutes as to who was going to be doing what. Franklin, which shares the largest section of Route 27 out of the three, will be paying for half the total costs and will be spearheading the project itself. South Brunswick will be designing the engineering specifications and paying for about two-thirds of the remaining costs. North Brunswick, which has the smallest section of Route 27, agreed to perform the legal legwork in putting together the agreement itself.

The new regulations, the result of a lawsuit by the trucking industry against the state, establishes a hierarchy of roads consisting of federal interstates at the top, state highways in the middle and local roads at the bottom. Extra-large trucks would be required to drive only on federal roads unless the shortest distance between two points is through the use of a road on the state network. Large trucks on the state network must leave as soon as possible. Meanwhile, while driving on the state network, trucks can only drive on local roads, again, if the shortest distance between the driver and the destination involves the use of a local road. The state lost the lawsuit because it differentiated between interstate and intrastate traffic.

It is the concern of the three towns on the Route 27 corridor that the regulations will make trucks more inclined to travel on that road. Mayor Frank Gambatese has, in the past, expressed skepticism that the trucks will follow the road hierarchy, especially after being given explicit permission to drive on local and state roads. Route 27 is an area of concern for the three communities because it has both residential developments and the protected historic district of Kingston. The road itself, meanwhile, is viewed as too narrow to support heavy truck traffic and is already seen as a major traffic trap in some areas, such as at the intersection of Finnegans Lane.

The final report will be submitted to the state DOT, which Watkins said has a formal process in which an area can request an exemption from the new regulations. Council members were impressed with the speed at which all three towns have reacted to the regulations.

"This is a real quick turnaround time on a real important issue," said Councilman Chris Killmurray.

Councilman Charles Carley said he was optimistic that the three towns will be able to work well with each other, with the big difficulty there being getting used to minutiae of each respective government.

"I would like to say the personalities in terms of North Brunswick, South Brunswick and Franklin on the elected officials side, I don't think we've had a closer and more productive relationship from a policy and political side. I'd like to see the potential for the administrative and bureaucratic side to catch up to that, and that's really been the snafu all these years," said Carley.