Weehawken officials say shortcuts through its residential streets are clogging them, causing gridlocks and long delays during the evening rush hour.
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Tuesday, Weehawken police will not let non-residential drivers make a right turn onto Pleasant Avenue to get to 495.
New signs went up on Tuesday morning to warn drivers.
A similar restriction is already in place at Shippen Street and Gregory Avenue from 7-10 a.m. That restriction has apparently worked well, so officials decided to try it at night.
Eyewitness News watched as a traffic officer stopped car after car from proceeding, ruining a shortcut some Manhattan-bound drivers have used for years.
"It's crap! They should put a sign back there, not over here when I'm about to go in," said Gladys Vadila, a driver. "I mean, it's a public road. I've been taking this for like five years."
Locals say the traffic is bad, and anything that might help is appreciated.
"During rush hour it's super bad, it's 4 o'clock, even 3:30 sometimes when I am headed to my evening classes, back-to-back traffic, people can't make a left turn, people can't make a right turn, sometimes a blockage in the middle, it's bad," a resident said.
Leonia began issuing tickets last month to non-residents caught using certain pass-through streets to get to the George Washington Bridge.
As a result, one woman is suing Leonia over the ban, saying that it isn't legal to close public streets.
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