New Jersey Turnpike

[NJRoadfan]

One think I have always wondered, why doesn't the NJTP have any truck weigh and inspection stations? Its odd the GSP has one south of Exit 98 and even I-295 does at the southern end. In theory they could do everything at the toll plazas, but I have never seen any truck inspections. NJ overall has always baffled me with its lack of truck inspection stations (I-78 only got one a decade ago) and (unrelated) lack of welcome centers.

[roadman65]

The GSP has a welcome center at both ends.  I-295 has one in Deepwater, and I do not know if I-80 still has one east of Columbia.  Yes, I agree with you the Turnpike has nothing, although interchanges with lodging, but no weigh stations and no information centers, unless they have added some in recent years.

BTW I-80 had a truck scale just east of the Gap and so did I-287 N Bound in Piscataway at one time.

[storm2k]

The GSP has a welcome center at both ends.  I-295 has one in Deepwater, and I do not know if I-80 still has one east of Columbia.  Yes, I agree with you the Turnpike has nothing, although interchanges with lodging, but no weigh stations and no information centers, unless they have added some in recent years.

BTW I-80 had a truck scale just east of the Gap and so did I-287 N Bound in Piscataway at one time.

The weigh station on 287 NB is still there.

[jeffandnicole]

Well now there's been 3 major accident/fire/fatalities in incidents involving semi-trucks recently (including the Wal-Mart truck vs. limo) on the Turnpike. I won't be surprised if the State Police launch a major crack-down on truckers on the Turnpike very soon. It certainly appears to be needed.

They could begin by enforcing the lane restrictions for trucks.

Maybe they should be cracking down on your standard everyday pickup drivers too.

This accident appears to have occurred when a pickup truck entered the shoulder and slammed into the tractor trailer.

Yes, the next question is, why was the tractor trailer on the shoulder of the road?   Regardless of that though, it looks like this accident is the fault of someone with a standard license, not a CDL.

[Rothman]

Perhaps NJ is relying more on mobile weigh checks like NY?

[Mergingtraffic]

Do we know this latest accident was caused by a 18-wheeler driver error?  Did a car cut one off causing them to crash? Most of the trucks I see are safe drivers and it's the cars pick ups that swerve and cut them off.

I hate to say it, but some of the responses sound like they come from your Average Joe and not those with road geeking backgrounds.  Lowering the speed limit b/c of a crash or 3 is a knee jerk reaction.  People will still go 80 anyway. 

[cpzilliacus]

I hate to say it, but some of the responses sound like they come from your Average Joe and not those with road geeking backgrounds.  Lowering the speed limit b/c of a crash or 3 is a knee jerk reaction.  People will still go 80 anyway. 

More to the point, the design speed of the New Jersey Turnpike (at least south of about Exit 10) is either 75 MPH or 80 MPH (depending on source).

[cpzilliacus]

Perhaps NJ is relying more on mobile weigh checks like NY?

I do wonder why some large toll roads (including the NYS Thruway, the N.J. Turnpike; the Pennsylvania Turnpike; and the Ohio Turnpike) do not have any stationary weight enforcement at all. 

The Pennsylvania Turnpike does weigh vehicles entering its ticket system, so in that sense does have weight enforcement by just keeping them off that part of its system, but that's not going to work in an all-AET environment.

[Alps]

Well now there's been 3 major accident/fire/fatalities in incidents involving semi-trucks recently (including the Wal-Mart truck vs. limo) on the Turnpike. I won't be surprised if the State Police launch a major crack-down on truckers on the Turnpike very soon. It certainly appears to be needed.

Two big ones today on I-80. Maybe it's just trucks in August in general.

[SignBridge]

Point taken re: the latest Turnpike truck accident's cause.

Re: the absence of weigh stations on the toll roads, my guess would be that if they had them on the NJT the trucks would take Routes-1 and 295 cheating the Turnpike out of toll revenue. So in return for the trucks paying the tolls, they are given a break with no weigh stations. It always comes down to money.........

[jeffandnicole]

Perhaps they should lower the speed limit in the outer roadways to 55 mph.

Saying that we should lower the speed limit means you're going to make a great politician someday.  Ignore the facts.  Ignore everything that goes into engineering a roadway, including the speed limits.  Ignore 17 years of 65 mph data in this state alone.  Ignore all the car accidents that don't make the news.  Just look at a few accidents that occurred over the past few years then do something that's very visible which has a long history of not doing anything to reduce accidents.

[SignBridge]

Well said, jeffandNicole. That would be a typical politician's knee jerk reaction.

[SteveG1988]

Point taken re: the latest Turnpike truck accident's cause.

Re: the absence of weigh stations on the toll roads, my guess would be that if they had them on the NJT the trucks would take Routes-1 and 295 cheating the Turnpike out of toll revenue. So in return for the trucks paying the tolls, they are given a break with no weigh stations. It always comes down to money.........

Most of the time they find nothing with the truck. many states have done the study and came up with the fact that rarely are trucks having issues with weight.

Also it would be dumb if someone were to drive through NJ illegally with weight. You have a lot of new england ahead of you going north, going south you have the issue of Maryland and their always open scale. Virginia has scales on I-81 that are always open as well. So you may be getting a "free ride" in NJ, but it wouldn't suprise me if they had scales built into the toll booths at the exits.

[jeffandnicole]

Point taken re: the latest Turnpike truck accident's cause.

Re: the absence of weigh stations on the toll roads, my guess would be that if they had them on the NJT the trucks would take Routes-1 and 295 cheating the Turnpike out of toll revenue. So in return for the trucks paying the tolls, they are given a break with no weigh stations. It always comes down to money.........

Most of the time they find nothing with the truck. many states have done the study and came up with the fact that rarely are trucks having issues with weight.

Also it would be dumb if someone were to drive through NJ illegally with weight. You have a lot of new england ahead of you going north, going south you have the issue of Maryland and their always open scale. Virginia has scales on I-81 that are always open as well. So you may be getting a "free ride" in NJ, but it wouldn't suprise me if they had scales built into the toll booths at the exits.

They're not built into the toll plazas.  Equipment within the roadway can count axles but that's it. 

[vdeane]

Perhaps NJ is relying more on mobile weigh checks like NY?

I do wonder why some large toll roads (including the NYS Thruway, the N.J. Turnpike; the Pennsylvania Turnpike; and the Ohio Turnpike) do not have any stationary weight enforcement at all. 

The Pennsylvania Turnpike does weigh vehicles entering its ticket system, so in that sense does have weight enforcement by just keeping them off that part of its system, but that's not going to work in an all-AET environment.

The Thruway actually has a couple truck inspection stations; one heading north between exits 19-20, and one heading west between exits 28-29.

[cpzilliacus]

They're not built into the toll plazas.  Equipment within the roadway can count axles but that's it. 

I was told by a PTC (or maybe PennDOT) staff person at a conference that each Pennsylvania Turnpike entry lane has a piezoelectric weigh-in-motion device, and the system is set-up to deny entry to overweight trucks and truck combinations (but the Pennsylvania Turnpike allows a higher gross weight than most "free" roads in the U.S.).

[Rothman]

I would hope WIM has improved over the past eight years since I last was involved with it.  Back then, it could be used for screening for possible overweight trucks, but for actual violations, the trucks had to be put on more accurate scales to prove them...at least in NY.

[cl94]

They're not built into the toll plazas.  Equipment within the roadway can count axles but that's it. 

I was told by a PTC (or maybe PennDOT) staff person at a conference that each Pennsylvania Turnpike entry lane has a piezoelectric weigh-in-motion device, and the system is set-up to deny entry to overweight trucks and truck combinations (but the Pennsylvania Turnpike allows a higher gross weight than most "free" roads in the U.S.).

From what I've heard, this is true. I think it's tied into the axle counter. Many WIM systems work by summing axle loads. If that's the case, it's very possible the Ohio Turnpike, Indiana Toll Road, New York State Thruway, and New Jersey Turnpike use similar systems. Each of these has devices that appear to function as WIM/counter devices at its toll booths.

[cpzilliacus]

I would home WIM has improved over the past eight years since I last was involved with it.  Back then, it could be used for screening for possible overweight trucks, but for actual violations, the trucks had to be put on more accurate scales to prove them...at least in NY.

That is the standard in Maryland and Virginia too. 

WIM technology is used as a screening device only, but it vastly increases the productivity of certified static scales, since they only weigh trucks that the WIM has identified as being (close to or) over on gross vehicle weight or sometimes over on tractor or trailer tandems.

[jeffandnicole]

Eh, they can buff it out...  http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2015/09/tractor-trailer_erupts_in_flames_on_nj_turnpike.html#incart_2box_nj-homepage-featured

Equally impressive, if the times stated are correct:  It went from a raging inferno to towed away in about 45 minutes.

[roadman]

Massachusetts gave up on permanent weigh stations, IIRC, sometime in the early 1970s.  While there are pulloff areas signed as Weigh Stations, some of which are combined with rest or parking areas (but have been gated off from those areas since about 2000 -the Weigh Station only pulloffs also have the same treatment) along several Massachusetts freeways, the State Police adopted the switch to portable scales due to lower staffing requirements (the MSP mobile "Truck Team" also handles weight enforcement), and to be able to adjust enforcement to address identified or perceived trouble areas.

There are a number of State Police barracks along I-90/MassPike, some of which have been closed and are now used as MassDOT maintenance depots.  However, I don't ever recall seeing any areas that are permanently signed or gated off as weigh stations.

Yes, the next question is, why was the tractor trailer on the shoulder of the road?

Unless it can be demonstrated that the driver deliberately parked in the shoulder to rest or to avoid a possible HOS violation, the fact the rig was parked on the shoulder should be irrelevant to the circumstances of the crash.

[cpzilliacus]

I would hope WIM has improved over the past eight years since I last was involved with it.  Back then, it could be used for screening for possible overweight trucks, but for actual violations, the trucks had to be put on more accurate scales to prove them...at least in NY.

Weigh-in-motion weights are not admissible in court in Virginia and Maryland.  Weighing for the purpose of issuing a overweight ticket has to be on certified static scales.

[jeffandnicole]

So, for all of you that complained there was never any signage on the NJ Turnpike directing you to I-295...

Spotted today on the Southbound NJ Turnpike between Interchanges 5 and 4 is a new Time Travel sign.  It will display the time to the Delaware Memorial Bridge via the Turnpike, and via I-295 using Exit 4!

For the most part, the time using the Turnpike should always be quicker, because the Turnpike is basically a straight line to the bridge at 65 mph.  Using 295, it may include the time to exit and take 73 to 295.  Plus, 295 is 55 mph for about 8 miles, and is prone to congestion in that stretch of highway. 

[KEVIN_224]

How bad would the southbound backup be at the end of the Turnpike on a holiday weekend now? I still remember being stuck in traffic a few times at the old car/truck lane merge around MM 73/Exit 8A on weekends (that was me heading towards Philadelphia, mostly).

[jeffandnicole]

How bad would the southbound backup be at the end of the Turnpike on a holiday weekend now? I still remember being stuck in traffic a few times at the old car/truck lane merge around MM 73/Exit 8A on weekends (that was me heading towards Philadelphia, mostly).

Generally non-existent.  When there is a backup, it's due to congestion issues on the Delaware Memorial Bridge or approaching I-95 in Delaware.

The Car/Truck lanes merge south of Interchange 6, and other than minor slowing during the busiest of times there's no issues there.