The Issue
The Town of Phillipsburg submitted a plan to the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) requesting alternate truck routes for Phillipsburg. One of the new proposed truck routes, and the most likely route to be endorsed, is a truck route that uses residential Center Street as a truck bypass through town. 

Please sign our petition and request the Phillipsburg Town Council to completely stop any chance that the State of New Jersey may come back with Center Street being authorized as a possible alternate truck route. This petition will also be used to inform Charles R. Reilly, Supervisor, Traffic Investigations, Bureau of Traffic Engineering, that the residents of Phillipsburg do not want the NJDOT to authorize that Center Street as a designated truck route.

Town Council should fight to ensure neighborhoods are protected and supported, and not create threats to neighborhoods.

How will we know if we are successful?
We will know we are successful if we receive written and verifiable notification from Phillipsburg Town Council that the NJDOT has not authorized, and will not authorize residential Center Street as a designated truck route in Phillipsburg, NJ.

OR

We receive direct communication from Charles Reilly, or another representative from the NJDOT, that Center Street will not now, or in the future, be designated as an alternate truck route.

Call to Action (if you can do any of the items listed below, that would be helpful)

• Sign this petition to show your support for protecting Center Street from ever becoming a truck bypass route and opening Center Street up to tractor trailer traffic
• Attend Town Council Meetings and tell Council you want them to pass a resolution and change the language in Resolution 2022-51 which states:
  “Whereas the Council understands NJDOT may not provide relief as sought and should such relief not be provided the Council supports and authorizes consideration of an alternate route per NJAC 16:27-4.3(b)7.i that includes the use of Center Street and portions of Roseberry Street to be included as part of the designated truck route to provide required local route connections between State Route 22 and State Route 122; ...”
  
  to the following language in a new resolution
  “Whereas the Council understands NJDOT may not provide relief as sought and should such relief not be provided the Council DOES NOT support and authorize consideration of an alternate route per NJAC 16:27-4.3(b)7.i that includes the use of Center Street and portions of Roseberry Street to be included as part of the designated truck route to provide required local route connections between State Route 22 and State Route 122; ...”
• Please also email Council members and the Mayor your request per the previous bullet item:
  Council President Harry Wyant - hwyant@phillipsburgnj.org
  Council Vice President Lee Clark - lclark@phillipsburgnj.org
  Councilman Peter Marino - pmarino@phillipsburgnj.org
  Councilman Randy Piazza Jr. - rpiazzajr@phillipsburgnj.org
  Councilman Keith Kennedy - kkennedy@phillipsburgnj.org
• Contact Charles P. Reilly, Supervisor, Traffic Investigation at NJDOT and tell him you do not want Center Street, Phillipsburg, to be part of an alternate truck route, and that the NJDOT should not authorize any truck routes permitting Center Street to be part of that route. Phone, email and regular mail are all good options.
  
  Charles R. Reilly                               (609) 530-2655, X613
  Supervisor, Traffic Investigation
  Bureau of Traffic Engineering
  NJ Department of Transportation
  P. O. Box 600
  Trenton, New Jersey 08525

More Details
Presently, trucks use South Main Street to connect between Route 122 (South Main Street) and Route 22 (Memorial Parkway).

Phillipsburg Town Council has proposed two alternate truck routes to the NJDOT. Both proposed routes would remove truck traffic on South Main Street between McKeen Street and Union Square.

1. The Town of Phillipsburg Preferred Route Offered To NJDOT
   Trucks would use Roseberry Street from Route 22, then make a U-turn using a yet-to-be-constructed road instead of turning on Center Street. The second portion of this truck route would have trucks trying to enter Phillipsburg from Pohatcong on Route 122 doing a U turn at approximately McKeen Street and using the yet to be constructed Howard Street Extension to go back the way they came on Route 122.
2. The Other Alternate Route Offered To NJDOT (Center Street Truck Bypass Route)
   The other route would connect Route 22 and Route 122 via Center Street and Roseberry Street. Based on comments from Town Engineer Tim O’Brien, if the NJDOT approves any alternative truck routes for Phillipsburg, this would be the most likely approved designated truck route.

The Good News
Largely due to previous petitions against a warehouse adjacent to the Delaware River as well as public comments questioning Town Council, Council President Wyant, Councilman Kennedy and Council Vice President Clark have publicly stated they would not vote for Center Street as a truck bypass route. Councilmen Randy Piazza Jr. and Peter Marino have not made any public statements as to whether or not they would vote to make Center Street a truck bypass route.

What is the problem?
Town Engineer Tim O’Brien has stated it is very unlikely NJDOT will endorse the route that has the U-turns and avoids Center Street. NJDOT will want to see connectivity between Route 122 and Route 22, and the U-turn scenario does not provide that connectivity. 

Although it appears from public statements that most members of the current Town Council would not vote for Center Street as a truck bypass route, even if the NJDOT authorizes Center Street to be part of a truck bypass route, the threat to Center Street will still exist. If the NJDOT authorizes Center Street to be a truck bypass route, then this or any future Town Council can, with two readings and votes in a two week time period, make Center Street a truck bypass route.

Unless NJDOT does not authorize Center Street route as a legitimate truck route, then the risk to Center Street becoming a truck bypass route remains a real threat. We must convince Town Council and/or Charles Reilly at the NJDOT to declare residential Center Street Route is not a legitimate truck bypass route.