South Brunswick de­serves ‘Safe Corridors’ assistance

Elected officials have the responsibility of defending the interests of the people they represent. It is this responsibility to do what is right for the people I represent that compels me to speak out against the exclusion of South Brunswick from the recently passed "Safe Corridors" highway safety program.

The "Safe Corridors" program will improve traffic signals, signs and markings on our state’s most dangerous highways.

Under the program, the first 10 miles of Route 1 are protected, from the Trenton bridge to Carnegie Center Boulevard in West Windsor. However, the designation is lifted for the next 10 miles of Route 1, cutting out the rest of West Windsor, all of Plainsboro and almost all of South Brunswick. The safety program then picks back up again just shy of the North Brunswick border.

Inexplicably, almost all of South Brunswick’s intersections were cut out of the "Safe Corridors" program. South Brunswick’s Route 1 intersections at Ridge Road, Route 522, Major Road and New Road were all deemed safe by Trenton’s standards. But those of us who live in South Brunswick, and anyone who drives Route 1, knows these intersections are a danger that not only causes traffic and frustration, but also the tragic loss of life.

What’s even more amazing is that the very sponsor of the bill that cuts our town out of the program is our own state assemblyman, Gary Guear (D-14th District).

What was Assemblyman Guear’s response when asked why South Brunswick was cut out of his own program? He claimed that people "were trying to score political points."

You are wrong, Mr. Guear. The facts speak for themselves. During the first six months of 2003, this neglected stretch of Route 1 experienced more than 100 traffic accidents — more than 25 percent of them resulting in personal injury and, tragically, one fatality. This is not about political points Mr. Guear; it’s about lives — our lives.

The entirety of Route 1, throughout South Brunswick, must be included in the "Safe Corridors" program immediately. If our state officials fail to do so, they make clear their failure to represent our interests.

Ted Van Hessen

South Brunswick Councilman