The order applies to the section of Route 29 between its junction with I-95 outside of Trenton and Route 12. According to the Trenton Times, heavy trucks making deliveries within a 3 mile radius of the road are exempt. Violators will be fined $77.

Whitman explained that added winter driving risks and "extensive public comment on the safety of the road" prompted the action. Local officials and groups have lobbied on the issue for years. Commissioner Weinstein said the DOT will "continue to work with state legislators" to make the ban permanent.

According to the Governor, the statewide ban has cut back truck traffic on Route 29 by 17% since July 1999. Statistics suggest the new restriction will bring additional reductions. NJ DOT reports that trucks with six tires and larger constituted roughly 6% of all traffic on Route 29 on an average July weekday. The 1997 U.S. Economic Census estimates that NJ and U.S. trucks heavier than 26,000 pounds constitute 40-45% of the registered commercial fleet.

The NJ Motor Truck Association told the Trenton Times that "unique hazards" of Route 29 justify the ban. However, Executive Director Sam Cunninghame said the association would oppose attempts to apply more restrictions to Route 31 or Route 206.

At an annual meeting last week, the NJ State League of Municipalities called on the legislature and the Governor to strengthen the truck ban by narrowing definitions of "local trips for pickups and deliveries." Trucks now making deliveries anywhere in NJ are exempt from the ban. The League, suggests that in order to be exempt, a truck must have a pick-up or delivery within a four-mile radius of any road it travels that is not part of the "National Network." The League continued its support for an extension of the statewide truck ban to 96 inch-wide trucks and local police power to enforce it.

Oral arguments in the American Trucking Association's suit against NJ's statewide truck ban are expected to be heard in Federal court in Trenton in early December.