ALLENTOWN – The governing body in Allentown and in neighboring Robbinsville have each passed a resolution in support of a weight limit on trucks on Route 526 between Circle Drive in Robbinsville and the Route 526 spur in Upper Freehold Township.
Route 526 is Church Street in Allentown and Robbinsville-Allentown Road in Robbinsville. Circle Drive in Robbinsville intersects Robbinsville-Allentown Road.
The Route 526 spur in Upper Freehold Township intersects North Main Street at Allentown’s border with Upper Freehold Township.
Allentown officials have been working to ban large trucks from the borough and the passage of the dual resolutions is the latest action in the town’s ongoing attempt to gain a measure of relief from the numerous tractor-trailers that travel through town on a daily basis.
On July 6, the Allentown Borough Council passed a resolution supporting a weight limit of 4 tons on Route 526 between Circle Drive in Robbinsville and the Route 526 spur in Upper Freehold Township.
According to the resolution, the “recently completed Moving Mindfully: Monmouth-Mercer Study, a comprehensive freight related transportation study for western Monmouth and southern Mercer counties, has documented the significant growth in freight related travel in the region.”
Route 526 is identified as a primary business and residential corridor in Allentown that has significant pedestrian and bicycle traffic.
Borough officials wrote that “the narrow travel lanes and substandard turning radii on Route 526 in Allentown are difficult for large trucks to maneuver without encroaching on
the opposing lanes or beyond the edge of the road has become a safety concern.”
The council members said Interstate 195, which runs parallel to Route 526, is the safer and more direct route for large trucks.
Allentown officials said they “strongly support a 4-ton weight restriction on Route 526 in Monmouth and Mercer counties between Circle Drive in Robbinsville and the Route 526 spur in Upper Freehold Township to remove large through trucks and their negative impacts from our local communities.”
Municipal officials also “strongly support changes by the New Jersey Department of Transportation (DOT) to remove Route 526 between Circle Drive in Robbinsville and the Route 526 spur in Upper Freehold Township from the New Jersey Large Truck Access Network.”
Robbinsville Township Council members lent their voices to the effort by passing a resolution on July 8 supporting a weight limit of 4 tons on Route 526 between a conditional roundabout to be constructed at Circle Drive in Robbinsville and the Route 526 spur in Upper Freehold Township.
Robbinsville’s resolution mirrors the one that was passed by the Allentown council. The resolution adds that on Feb. 21, 2021, the Robbinsville Zoning Board of Adjustment granted use variance approval to an applicant, a condition of which is that the applicant construct a roundabout along Route 526 at Circle Drive that will enable truck U-turns to deter truck traffic from heading along Route 526 into Allentown.
Robbinsville officials said they “strongly support a 4-ton weight restriction on Route 526 in Monmouth and Mercer counties between the conditional roundabout to be constructed at Circle Drive in Robbinsville and the Route 526 spur in Upper Freehold Township to remove large through trucks and their negative impacts from Allentown.”
They also support changes by the DOT to remove Route 526 between the conditional roundabout to be constructed at Circle Drive in Robbinsville and the Route 526 spur in Upper Freehold Township from the New Jersey Large Truck Access Network.