A New Jersey town has banned out-of-town motorists during rush hour to prevent them from clogging its roads while using the enclave as a shortcut to the George Washington Bridge with the use of GPS navigation apps.
New traffic laws went into effect Monday in the Bergen County borough of Leonia — just west of the Big Apple — where violators will face $200 fines in two weeks.
But until then, non-local motorists trying to pass through the town will be given a warning by authorities posted at checkpoints and redirected off residential streets.
“There’s a grace period for the next two weeks. We won’t issue a summons or a ticket. Everything we do, we want to be fair about it,” Leonia Police Chief Thomas Rowe said Monday.
The traffic-geared action measure was taken in response to navigation apps like Waze directing motorists headed to the span — which connects Manhattan to Fort Lee, NJ — through Leonia as a cut-through, causing major congestion for locals.
Under the new traffic laws, 55 Leonia streets besides Fort Lee Road, Broad Avenue and Grand Avenue will be closed daily from 6 to 10 a.m. and from 4 to 9 p.m. to non-locals.
Residents and employees working in Leonia must display town-issued yellow hang tags in their vehicles to access the closed-off secondary roads.
The town worked with navigation apps Waze and Apple Maps to show that a right turn is no longer allowed from Fort Lee Road onto Station Parkway, which leads onto several side streets in the tiny borough, said Leonia Mayor Judah Zeigler.
“On a normal day, we get 4,000 vehicles coming from the George Washington Bridge. If it’s a bad day, we get 12,000,” said Zeigler, adding that car congestion was once so bad that a crossing guard was forced to “jump in front of a child to stop traffic.”
“We need to change things,” Zeigler said.
The Leonia Police Department wrote on Facebook Monday: “Using Leonia as a cut-through to the George Washington Bridge will only increase your commute time. Staying on the major highways will be the quickest route to the George Washington Bridge.”
Loretta Thrower, a Teaneck, NJ, resident trying to pass through Leonia on Monday, called the traffic ban “ridiculous,” but added, “I understand.”
“It does get crowded here,” she said.
New Yorker Mike Helmsley, 57, wasn’t as sympathetic.
“I think it’s bull—- that I can’t take a public road,” Helmsley said. “This is literally adding 35 minutes to my commute and now I have to explain to my boss I’m late because they closed roads.”
Leonia local Kristen McDonnagh, 43, touted the traffic initiative, saying, “I fully support this and the police for asserting this.”
“People don’t understand that there’s a middle school and a high school within a mile of where we’re standing. People come and go without a care that locals are bothered by this every single day,” McDonnagh said.