Traffic Study Should Be Sped Up, Committee Says

The is hoping to speed up the county approval and implementation of a traffic study on the intersection of Changebridge Road and Route 202. The intention of the study is to determine whether a right-turn lane on to Changebridge Road would benefit motorists.

Some residents at the intersection in the past, particularly during a discussion about one developer's wish to build a Quick Chek at the location, which has not been approved by the township's boards at this time. In March, residents spoke about the already congested area.

Unrelated to the Quick Chek proposal, the township is interested in learning what the benefit would be to creating a right-turn lane at the intersection. Township Administrator Victor Canning reported Tuesday that he had met with Morris County Engineer Steve Hammond to discuss county funding for going out to bid for a traffic study.

However, the process to get the traffic study funded and completed could take some time, Canning said.

"If they were going to continue forward with this, [the county] would have to worry about getting funds committed for 2013," Canning said.

Assistant Township Engineer Mark Mantyla said even the Requests for Proposals process to hire a firm to conduct the study could take between four and five months, meaning the study may not be completed until the end of the year. Township Committeewoman Deborah Nielson suggested the township reach out to the Morris County Board of Chosen Freeholders to begin allocating money for the project now, as the county is working on its budget in the next two months, so that if the township and county decide to move forward with the project, money would be available for construction more quickly.

But resident Steve Sammit reminded the committee that a traffic study had already been done on the intersection. Nielson confirmed that a study had been done in 2007.

"The traffic is still the same as it was and at that time, one of the recommendations was to make a right-hand turn," Sammit said. "Please explain to them that they've done this already."

At the time when the initial study was done, Nielson said the intersection had been presented as a potentially hazardous area and that more than one discussion was had about what to do about the traffic there. The county even discussed allocating money for a bypass road, she said.

"Steve is correct that we don't have to start from scratch," Nielson said.

Mayor Tim Braden said he would be following up with the county to see what can be done to move the process along.

Correction: An earlier version of this story stated the right-turn lane would be from Changebridge Road.

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