The holiday season has brought an increase in traffic and frustration to some residents of Upper Freehold Township and neighboring Robbinsville.
An Amazon fulfillment center (a warehouse and shipping facility), that was built this year in Robbinsville, has caused traffic congestion on Interstate 195, Old York Road, Gordon Road and county routes 539 and 526 as the company has increased its work force ahead of the holiday season.
The traffic issues came to the attention of the public at large last week in media accounts of the situation.
Following the burst of attention, representatives of Amazon and Robbinsville announced what they say will be a solution to the traffic woes.
In a press release, Robbinsville officials said Amazon executives have agreed to stagger the peak hour shift of inbound and outbound employees over a period of about 90 minutes, compared to the initial 30- minute time frame.
In the press release, Robbinsville Mayor Dave Fried said, “We were able to work out a solution that will hopefully satisfy everyone. Residents in the area of the fulfillment center should see a significant reduction in traffic on the most impacted roads, including Route 539 and Gordon Road.
“I am very appreciative that members of Amazon’s senior operations team came … to collaborate with us in order to make these proposed changes happen. With these changes we should see traffic and accident levels decrease.”
A Dec. 16 meeting at the Upper Freehold Township municipal building has been arranged to discuss more long-term solutions and next year’s holiday peak, Fried said.
Fried said the Amazon building was designed for 1,000 trips in the morning and about 2,000 trips in the evening, which is what the company had been approved for.
“They are now running approximately 5,000 trips per shift, about five times their approval in the morning and about two times their approval in the evening,” Fried said.
Accidents have gone up dramatically, according to Fried.
“We have had 25 accidents out there just in the last six weeks. My ultimate responsibility is to the safety of the residents of Robbinsville and frankly, also the safety of the residents in Upper Freehold, and I take that seriously,” Fried said.
“Amazon does not normally have these challenges during the course of the year. They dramatically staffed up for the holiday season, which again is fine, however, you have to have a plan to manage your traffic,” he added.
Upper Freehold’s Township Administrator Dianne Kelly said the congested roads are not in the municipality’s jurisdiction.
Kelly said representatives of the community had been in frequent contact with representatives of Mercer County, Monmouth County, Robbinsville and Amazon.
“All we can do is get people aware of the problem and get them talking to each other,” she said.
Robbinsville resident Marlene Kolodziej said traffic had gotten worse in the last few weeks as Amazon ramped up its staffing.
“I noticed a significant increase in tractor trailer traffic on Gordon Road,” Kolodziej said. “In recent weeks it was not possible to get home if I took a route near the Amazon warehouse.
“At one point it was so backed up that I had to go back onto Interstate 195, head west, and then route back through secondary roads just to get to my home. This was on a weekend during non-rush hour time,” she said.
An Upper Freehold Township resident who emailed the Examiner had similar complaints and said his wife had to drive 10 miles out of her way to avoid getting stuck in traffic on Interstate 195 and Route 539. He said the traffic congestion has been going on for more than a month and said Gordon Road was a total disaster twice a day.
The press release from Robbinsville states that to date, Amazon has provided more than $300,000 to fund the Z-Line bus route, which has been successful in reducing traffic by 10 percent. The company has procured off-site parking and bus service for 300 cars, and has hired five off-duty police officers during each shift change to assist with traffic flow.
Amazon Regional Director of Operations Tim Hall said, “These efforts have helped take cars off the road and alleviate some congestion. We realized challenges still remain and we have been working to address the issue.”