in our Spotlight on Business Report tonight combating the conflict between Warehouse development and the communities where they're built a new study released today aims to solve quality of life issues for people living in Southern Middle sex County which has become a hot spot for trucks and Freight traffic causing congestion on residential roads and safety concerns for pedestrians navigating the unprecedented volume Ted Goldberg has the story drive around middlex County long enough and you'll spot tons of trucks lugging around cargo while some are just passing through many of them are driving in and out of the 1300 or so warehouses in the county middlex County's prime location so close to both New York City and Philadelphia with access to so many major highways and byways can be a double-edged sword as it is convenient not only for residents but for businesses as well the many warehouses here in the Sou Southern portion of the county are proof of that and while we are happy to offer a welcoming and supportive environment for businesses we are also incredibly incredibly proud that middle county is such a wonderful place to live Warehouse growth in New Jersey has led to protests and intense shouting at meetings Statewide the north Jersey Transportation Planning Authority is trying to provide more information about helping communities adapt to more trucks and more warehouses and today they released the results from a year-long study focusing primarily on middlex County the njtpa took in more than a thousand comments their recommendations include finding ways to steer trucks away from homes one thing is abundantly clear truck traffic is a regional issue and it must be addressed as such we must work together at all levels of government with and with our partners in the private sector to mitigate the impact of truck traffic on our local roads we expect that this will make a big difference for our residents in terms of traffic noise and safety some of the recommendations are minor like putting up signs to stop trucks from making left turns at certain intersections County leaders say they'll jump on that immediately while much larger changes could come later on a long-term basis we have a project in in design that will convert the traffic circle at Route 130 and County Road 539 South Main Street into a four-legged signalized intersection the project is in preliminary engineering and is currently scheduled to go to Construction in the next few years residents have used their frustration with warehouses to run for office like Dan Weiss and Stacy fox in West Windsor they're happy to hear about studies like this and hope more of Mercer County can get similar treatment I think we saw a a great example of the of the collaboration at all levels of government from the municipalities to the county to the state and how effective that is in um supporting the the needs of the residents I'm hoping that all of the legislators who came out to be a part of it that it's more than just a photo op that they're really going to act on it there was a lot expressed about the concern for quality of life of residents and I love that FOX also hopes that people follow in her footsteps and run for office if they don't like how their communities are run in regards to allowing warehouses to set up shop it's much easier to be a part of City Hall then to fight City Hall and if you're going to do all the work um then you should really consider running in local elections or at least finding candidates who represent the values of people more environmentally focused the study has more than 60 recommendations for changes to roads if the county chooses we could see those changes sooner than later as Leaders look for new ways to help trucks stay further away from homes in cranbery I'm Ted Goldberg Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight News support for the business report provided by the New Jersey tourism industry Association ntia will host their New Jersey conference on tourism November 30th through December 1st at Resorts Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City nti.org for event information