New Jersey Town Closing Streets To Tackle Navigation App Traffic

Smart navigation apps like Waze help their users find the fastest way to their destination. By relying on data crowdsourced from users, these apps are able to provide a better picture of the traffic situation. This can often result in large numbers of users being redirected to streets that aren’t meant for a lot of traffic when highways and major roads are congested. No wonder some communities don’t like these apps. The town of Leonia, New Jersey is taking an extreme measure to tackle navigation app traffic.

The New York Times reports that the town of Leonia, New Jersey is going to close 60 streets to all commuters except residents and workers during peak driving hours – 6AM to 10AM and 4PM to 9PM – starting January 22nd, 2018.

All commuters except workers and the town’s residents will not be able to go through town in order to get around the traffic. They will have to stick to the highway no matter how bad the traffic is.

Some residents are happy with this move. They find it difficult to leave home when a large number of commuters take to the streets and then have to wait for the traffic to clear up. The town’s police chief Tom Rowe told the scribe that they have tried to limit the closures and even worked with navigation app providers but that just wasn’t enough to tackle the problem.

A spokeswoman for Waze said that the service is going to abide by any changes that legally declare a road to be private.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: General
Tags: Waze