Schooley's Mountain Road Weight Limit

I'm starting a new post about the Schooley's Mountain Road (SMR) weight limit problem after following up on a post by John Hemmings of Packaging Plus.

Apparently the Washington Township PD started working on the process to tighten SMR weight limits and simplyfying the weight limit enforcement regulations earlier this year. As with almost everything involving road traffic regulations in NJ, the process involves requesting approval from the NJDOT. Without being mean, anything that goes to NJDOT tends to have a long turn around time. In fairness that is probably because of the volume of work and the complexity of many of the requests they get. In any event, it is rare to get a Yes or No answer to a request. In fact, as with many State agencies you get no answer at all and have to keep sending follow up requests. When an answer was finally recieved, it was "Okay, you can change the weight regulation for Schooley's Mountain Road, BUT SINCE IT IS A COUNTY ROAD AND IMPACTS WARREN AND MORRIS COUNTIES,  the Township has to get approval from both Counties BEFORE a change can be made.

That adds a whole new layer of delay, although Counties tend to move faster than the State. Assuming both Counties agree to the change, then Washington Township's Committee has to Introduce, Have a Public Hearing and Adopt an Ordinance amending the existing ordinance controlling the weight limit and enforcement. That is a two month process by State Regulation, and assumes there are no Legal objections to the change. I have heard that Morris County is in favor of the change, and I am sure the Mayor and Chief of Police are in favor or the request never would have gone to Trenton.

Stay tuned for further developments and I'm sure a lot of feedback. I AM NOT SPEAKING FOR THE TOWNSHIP WITH THIS BLOG SO THE INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO CORRECTION AND/OR CRITICISM.

Tracy Tobin