Jersey Shore Mayor Closes Town To Incoming Traffic

UPDATED 6/15/15 at 2:41 p.m.

BELMAR, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The mayor of a central New Jersey town temporarily barred nonresidents from entering the community via a major highway.

Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty announced the decision on Twitter around 3 p.m. Sunday. He said traffic into the town from Route 35 would be "shut down immediately'' because the Monmouth County community had "reached its capacity.''

"We had so many cars on our roads that we literally couldn't accommodate anymore," Doherty told 1010 WINS on Monday.

Doherty said the move was made for public safety reasons. Thousands of people had come to Belmar on Sunday for the concluding day of the 29th annual seafood festival, while others were hitting local beaches.

"It was only closed down for four hours to get the traffic flowing through town and get people out and that was it," Doherty said. "It was a very successful weekend for our small businesses."

Doherty said full-time Belmar residents were able to bypass the road closures by showing their driver's license.

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