NEWARK, Del. — Officials say that by the end of the year, truckers could again see police on the streets in this area looking for people who don’t pay their Delaware Turnpike tolls.
Police agencies say that the state Department of Transportation stopped paying Delaware State Police and Newark police for stricter enforcement in 2007. New agreements are under discussion.
“It seemed like the truckers knew as soon as we left,” Newark City Manager Carol Houck said. “We can’t have our guys out there all the time.”
The Transportation Department wants to get money back for special-duty patrols on routes that only allow local deliveries, such as Delaware 4 and Old Baltimore Pike, also known as Delaware 281. The goal is to stop commercial tolls on Interstate 95 from going down.
Commercial vehicles with more than two axles or that weigh more than 9 tonnes are not allowed to drive on routes with signs, except for local deliveries and pickups. But “local” means different things in different towns and police departments.
The drivers for a stone quarry in Elk Mills, Maryland, which is about 5 miles west of Newark, are upset about the tickets they got for breaking weight limits on Newark’s Christiana Parkway.
The haulers say that the quarry, which is a mile from the western edge of the city, and most of their trips are “local.” Shirley Feeney, who works as a dispatcher for Elk Mills Quarry, said that people don’t need to take I-95 when they can take Elkton Road to Delaware 4, also known as Christiana Parkway.