4 Separate Speed Zones OK'd For Schooley's Mountain Road

A bevy of car crashes over a one week period in January led to the Morris County Freeholders’ approval Wednesday to implement a lower speed limit in one section of Schooley’s Mountain Road.

In doing so, however, the five-mile stretch of roadway now has four different speed limits for motorists traveling north and south.

The Morris County Freeholders voted unanimously to change the speed limit from 35 to 25 miles-per-hour from the intersection of East Mill Road to 1,500 feet south of the intersection with Springtown Road (just north of James Trail).

From there, the speed limit jumps to 45 miles-per-hour from Springtown Road (the light at the police station) to Pleasant Grove Road. From that point to the intersection of Newburgh Road, the speed limit drops slightly to 40 miles-per-hour. Finally, the speed limit increases back to 45 miles-per-hour from Newburgh Road to the intersection of Routes 182 and 57 at the Hackettstown border.

In addition, any truck or bus weighing more than four tons is to use a lower gear and not to exceed 20 miles-per-hour from 1,400 feet north of Flocktown Road to 1,100 feet south of Newburgh Road when traveling north, or toward Hackettstown. The same goes for any truck or bus exceeding four tons from 1,600 feet south of Springtown Road to 200 feet south of Maple Avenue when heading toward the center of Long Valley.

New 25 mile-per-hour signs were erected earlier this month between James Trail and East Mill Road, but were not enforceable on the county-owned roadway until the governing body approved the resolution Wednesday night.

When a historic run of crashes occurred in 2014 between Camp Washington Road and “Big Turn,” Washington Township police consulted with the county to make a change to the heavily-trafficked roadway, and in turn had a stretch of pavement milled to slow motorists. The entire stretch of roadway from East Mill Road to Springtown was newly paved in 2014, however.

No crashes have occurred in that section since the milling, but seven others in January took place just north and south of the stretch. Another three crashes have been reported on the northern end of the roadway in the area of Cataract Park, which under the resolution is a 40 mile-per-hour roadway.

What do you think, Washington Township? Are the speed limits proper for the county roadway? Should they be lower in some areas? Higher? Tell us in the comments.

Subscribe to Long Valley Patch’s free daily newsletter for more local news, and breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox, by clicking here.