Route 29 crash victims identified as Lambertville residents

The Middlesex County Medical Examiner’s Office has positively identified the two people who died after a crash on Route 29 in Hopewell on Monday. Both crash victims are Lambertville residents.

Arthur Reed, 42,  was the driver of the Ford Crown Victoria that struck by a truck Monday afternoon. The passenger who died has been positively identified as Mark Leary, 58.

The driver of the truck, James Bilton, 59, of Edgewater Park has been issued motor vehicle summonses for failure to maintain a lane and careless driving.

Bilton was heading north in a Mack dump truck when he struck the Ford Crown Victoria, which was heading south, police said. The collision happened about three-tenths of a mile north of Fiddler’s Creek Road. That stretch of Route 29 is one lane in each direction. The vehicles came to rest against a stone wall along the southbound shoulder of the roadway. Both vehicles and a utility pole caught on fire.

The crash remains under investigation by the Hopewell Township Police Department and the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office Serious Collision Response Team.