The holiday season has brought back an old problem to the New Jersey Turnpike: trucks lined up to get into the port area.

Earlier in 2015 truckers wanting to be the first into the port area lined up in front of the gates and spilled over onto the New Jersey Turnpike Hudson extension at exit No. 14A, creating extra traffic in an already congested area.  Steps were taken to create areas where truckers could line up and not backup onto the Turnpike.

Increased shipments of containers, however, have generated more traffic again and early morning delays on the Turnpike.

New Jersey Fast Traffic's Bob Williams said "delays can be 1 or 2 miles long approaching Exit No. 14A from both directions.of the mainline and last all morning."

Bayonne Business Administrator Joe DeMarco told NJ Advance Media his hour-long drive on Route 78 from Hunterdon County doubled to two hours Thursday.  He also put some of the blame on the ongoing work at the Exit No. 14A interchange.

Besides the holiday season, another part of the popularity of the Bayonne port is that it is the only New Jersey port that can handle larger container ships which cannot yet clear the Bayonne Bridge.

The Amazon fulfillment center along exit 7A of the New Jersey Turnpike in Robbinsville has generated extra traffic on local roads during the holiday season, angering residents. Robbinsville mayor Dave Fried said the traffic is keeping kids from school and generating massive backups through town.

Robbinsville mayor Dave Fried threatened to hold Amazon to its original agreement for the number of trips by employees and trucks, which has gone from 1,000 to 5,000 in recent weeks or shut down the warehouse if a solution cannot be worked out.

 

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