On October 1, 2025, The Mount Holly Reporter was capturing video of heavy trucks when a biker entered the eastbound lane of Garden St from Buttonwood St as a truck approached. The truck, which appeared to be traveling about 30 mph, swerved into the westbound lane to avoid the biker. Luckily, there was no opposing traffic. Had conditions of traffic and speed been slightly different, the outcome could have been tragic.
This is the situation Mount Holly continues to experience because we cannot stop these massive trucks from using our residential streets as a short cut between destinations.
To recap the issue, back in 2022, Township Council passed an ordinance to stop pass-through truck traffic. And by truck, we are talking about very large trucks, the kind that can’t stop quickly. And by pass-through, we are talking about the kind that do not have stops in town and are using our residential streets as a short cut.
But it turns out that state law does not allow the ordinance to take effect unless neighboring municipalities support it by passing a Resolution of Approval. The rationale for this rule being if traffic must go around Mt. Holly’s streets, it may use other inappropriate streets in neighboring towns.
For about 2 years after the passage of the ordinance nothing was done to get the buy-in of those towns. But when Deputy Mayor DiFolco took office that changed, and with just some letters of request, Hainesport and Lumberton were on board. But Eastampton and Westampton did not offer their support.
Eastampton noted in its township council meeting minutes that:
The Mount Holly reporter inquired with County Engineer Joe Brickley as to whether the structural characteristics of “500 and 600” series roads [such as Route 537] meant that townships had no choice but to accept heavy truck traffic. Mr. Brickley responded that the “structural issue is not the lone criteria.” In fact, a portion of Route 537 in Springfield township got exempted from the “New Jersey Access Network”. The NJ Access Network are roads designated by the State to carry heavy trucks.
Yes, the rules are convoluted and seem to provide loopholes for the trucks. But there is an extensive list of roads that are segregated from the NJ Access Network for heavy trucks. So its possible. And the criteria for banning them from local streets includes criteria that downtown Mt. Holly has in abundance: pedestrians and density of driveways using a given segment of road. In other words, if our professional use multiple lines of evidence to argue for a ban of pass-through heavy trucks, we can get it done. So far, we are still in a process of attempting to convince the two neighboring hold out towns.
The Mount Holly Reporter will continue to follow this story and update readers as new information is gathered.
