Winter Weather in New Jersey, December 2, 2003

A series of snow showers associated with an arctic cold front caused slippery traveling conditions during the morning from Sussex County south through Mercer County. Hundreds of accidents were reported and massive tie-ups occurred in and around Trenton. Actual accumulations were light, generally less than one inch. But, on roadways the snow melted, the water then froze and black ice formed. In Sussex County, numerous accidents occurred on U.S. Route 206 in Newton, New Jersey State Route 15 in Sparta and New Jersey State Routes 23 and 94. One school district in the county cancelled school for the day, about half a dozen others had delayed openings. In Warren County, the second wave of snow showers around 1030 a.m.. EST wreaked havoc. Ten accidents occurred within a twenty minute span on Interstate 80. The interstate was closed for 90 minutes. A tractor trailer driver was critically injured when he was struck by another tractor trailer after his trailer jackknifed. In Hunterdon County, a multi-vehicle accident closed the U.S. Route 202 bridge to Pennsylvania. In Mercer County, traffic backed up to 25 miles as multi-vehicle accidents occurred on every major roadway. There were 30 highway crashes on Interstates 95, 295 and 195 in the county. Interstate 295 was backed up halfway south through Burlington County. Interstate 195 was closed for a 16 mile stretch between Millstone Township (Monmouth County) and Trenton for five hours because of over a dozen crashes. The Scudder Falls Bridge (Interstate 95) to Bucks County was closed because of a truck accident. Accidents were not confined to the major interstates. In Trenton there were 40 crashes in the city with U.S. Route 1 and New Jersey State Route 29 hit the hardest. On New Jersey State Route 29, thirteen vehicles were involved in four separate accidents. U.S. Route 1 was closed for three hours in Lawrence Township.