2,500 Motorcycles Commemorate 9/11

The 10th annual ride, organized by America’s 911 Foundation Inc., began Thursday in Shanksville, Pa., and went past the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., on Friday. The riders are set to reach their destination at Ground Zero in Manhattan on Sunday morning — touching all three sites where planes crashed on Sept. 11, 2001.
The ride is tentatively scheduled to enter New Jersey from the Delaware Memorial Bridge shortly before 2 p.m. and arrive in the southern part of Middlesex County via Route 130 by mid-afternoon.
The ride will pass by Cranbury, South Brunswick and North Brunswick on Route 130 North before accessing Route 1 North. It will pass by New Brunswick, Highland Park, Edison, Woodbridge and Rahway before arriving in Linden about 4:30 to 5 p.m.
Police from several Central Jersey towns affected by the ride said their departments plan to have officers help with the traffic situation, which will require numerous intersections to be blocked off as the procession passes.
The ride also has its own official police escorts, who are conducting their own continual, rolling block-offs of intersections.
“We expect them to come here (in Woodbridge) between 3:30 and 4 p.m., and they said they would call our front desk and give us like a 15-minute heads-up,” Woodbridge Police Capt. Roy Hoppock said. “But that’s tentative. Anything could happen and they could be delayed. It’s not a big operation for us. We plan to have as many auxiliary officers out there as we can to monitor it until they get through.”
Linden Sgt. Don Geisheimer said Linden police will temporarily block off intersections along Route 1 as the motorcyclists arrive and travel into the parking lot at Aviation Plaza along Route 1 North, where there will be refreshments and a ceremony at the Applebee’s restaurant. Police also will close intersections as the caravan of riders leaves the city along Route 1, heading toward Elizabeth.
Geisheimer said the motorcycle run is well-organized, and the temporary closing of intersections shouldn’t be a major issue. While the riders are in the Aviation Plaza parking lot, he said, the intersections will be open.
“Local roads won’t be affected,” said Geisheimer who anticipates that it will take about 15 minutes to get all the riders into the lot, which will be closed off by the Applebee’s.
“It won’t be that long,” said Geisheimer, adding that the riders will travel at the 40 mph speed limit.
Rob Brining, 55, of Burlington is one of the volunteer road captains riding in the Sept. 11 event. It’s his sixth. “This is the biggest turnout we’ve had,” he said

http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20110820/NJNEWS/308190031/9-11-motorcycle-ride-hits-Central-Jersey-today.