Amazon warehouse traffic causing gridlock

Business is booming inside Amazon's warehouse in New Jersey, but residents say the holiday rush has led to gridlock on nearby roads.

Traffic grinds to a halt for miles when the fulfillment center's more than 4,000 employees are going in and out of the facility during rush hour.

Robbinsville Mayor Dave Fried is threatening to sue  Amazon over the traffic that's clogged area roads after a senior official failed to show at a meeting to discuss the problem.

Fried says the infrastructure wasn't built to handle that much car volume. He wants Amazon to change or stagger shifts.

The company’s fulfillment center, called the "busiest warehouse on the planet" is located on New Canton Way in the township.

Operations at the warehouse on New Canton Way have increased for the holiday season.

It has created traffic congestion and "unprecedented gridlock" on I-195, Gordon Road, Old York Road and Mercer County routes 526/539.  s creating “gridlock” on Old York Road, Gordon Road, Routes 526 and 539.

In a statement on the township website Fried says:  "Children cannot get to school, residents cannot pull out of their driveways, and this has become a very serious public safety issue.  According to police department crash data, there have been 25 accidents that can be attributed to workers coming to and from the Amazon warehouse over the past six weeks, compared to just one accident over the previous six weeks."

Fried says the traffic in and out of the facility is double what was approved in 2012 by the township planning board.

He has instructed the planning board lawyers to schedule a hearing in front of a Mercer County judge.

Fried said:  "If a judge rules they are not in compliance, Robbinsville Township will attempt to shut the Amazon Fulfillment Center down until it is in compliance."

In a statement to NJ101.5 Amazon spokesman Aaron Toso wrote in an email that" “Given the seasonal peaks of our business we have added an additional couple thousand more seasonal employees and we realize that this has created localized traffic issues.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.