State of emergency, travel restriction in New Jersey as storm moves through
NEW JERSEY (WABC) -- New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced a state of emergency and travel restrictions ahead of the winter storm.
The state of emergency took effect at noon Saturday and covered the entire state. A commercial travel restriction is also in effect on roads north of I-95, but it does not include the New Jersey Turnpike.
It wasn't snow they're worried about. It's what happens later Sunday, when temperatures are expected to nosedive as much as 40 degrees in parts of the state over a 24-hour span.
Murphy said the storm brought mostly rain but some ice in upper northwest portions of the state. He said the concerns have now shifted to black ice, some flooding and potential power problems.
State Department of Transportation crews continue to treat the roads.
Heading into the weekend, Murphy said that he's going to be "the chairman of the overprepare club": The state was ready to deploy around 2,500 snow plows.
"We've got equipment deployed all over the state," he said. "Roads have been brined. We are doing constant calls. But preparedness is the big watchword. Last winter, we had a series of storms. And while they were commuting challenges, the commutes were largely reasonable given the storms. What wasn't reasonable is we had massive power outages, particularly concentrated on certain pockets of the state. The November storm was completely unacceptable in terms of the commuting experience, but we had very limited outages. We are preparing for something this weekend which could have elements of both, and I'll leave it there."
North Jersey was expecting the brunt of the storm, and officials asked drivers to stay home and keep off of the roads.
"We're going to brine our roads prior to the storm," said Glen Dowson, of the Mahwah DPW. "We're going to come in a couple hours before and brine the roads and the hills, especially, and get the guys here and try to salt the regular roads and break that barrier between the snow and the ice getting to the asphalt."
Fortunately, this storm comes on a holiday weekend, so there should be a lot less traffic on the roads.
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