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Town gets $800K for Route 130 redesign
DOT claims improvement will adapt to planned
development
 | | JENNIFER KOHLHEPP During a ceremony held on Route 130 Tuesday morning, Rep. Rush Holt (l) speaks about the federal funding North Brunswick will use to ease traffic. |
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NORTH BRUNSWICK — The township will receive federal funding to ease traffic on Route 130.
The oversized check for $800,000 that Rep. Rush Holt (D-12th District) signed for the township on the corner of Renaissance Boulevard and Route 130 flapped in the wind created by freight trucks and the last of the commuter traffic whizzing by on Tuesday morning.
"This portion of Route 130 is heavily trafficked," Holt said. "Bumper-to-bumper traffic and long lines at the traffic lights are all too common to the commuters who use this roadway every day."
Mayor Francis "Mac" Womack accepted the money earmarked for improvements to the stretch of Route 130 between Renaissance Boulevard and Adams Lane.
"This funding is very important to the overall highway improvements North Brunswick will have to undergo in the coming years," Womack said. "We are most appreciative for Representative Holt to come through for us on this."
In an attempt to abate the vehicle congestion and enhance safety, the state Department of Transportation (DOT) will widen, resurface and resignal Route 130 between Renaissance Boulevard and Adams Lane. The money will also aid in constructing an Adams Lane jug handle.
DOT Director of Project Management Rich Gramlich and Program Manager Steve Lavelle attended the presentation.
The additional lanes on Route 130 and the jughandle will help to ease the area’s traffic for 20 or more years, Gramlich said.
The DOT projects traffic patterns to develop all of its programs, Gramlich said.
When asked if the DOT has taken into consideration the proposed development of the Pulda farm into the plans for the road’s redesign, Gramlich said, "The DOT designs all projects to handle 20 years of traffic from the day it is built, and we take any proposed development into consideration."
Developer Jack Morris recently proposed constructing 96 single-family homes on 70 acres off Route 130 on Old Georges Road, whereas the township’s Planning Board proposed an ordinance earlier this year that would rezone the farm for a planned adult community.
Despite any possible development in the area, Gramlich said the DOT has had discussions for several years with the township on redesigning Route 130 in this area.
"We’ve submitted several proposals and there have been several redesigns," Gramlich said.
Lavelle said the redesigns came as a result of the Township Council’s suggestions to better accommodate pedestrians and large trucks that frequent the Adams Lane intersection.
Gramlich said the DOT expects the township to approve a design as soon as possible so that construction can begin in the summer or fall of 2006.
Womack said he will continue to petition the federal government for funding for the reconstruction of various east to west roadways in the township.
"We need to address the roadways such as Adams Lane, Cozzens Lane and Finnegans Lane that intersect the north and south routes," Womack said. "These roads are insufficient in their capacity to handle the continuously increasing commuter and truck traffic."
Womack said many township officials and residents have pressed, for years, to gain support and funding for a Finnegans Lane extension.
"There is no easy way to get from east to west in our town," Womack said. "An overpass on Finnegans Lane to Route 1 would also drastically reduce the commuter and truck traffic on Route 130."
Womack said many truckers get off the New Jersey Turnpike at Exit 8A and cut through town on Route 130 to Route 1 to save the extra toll fees they would pay using Exit 9.
The construction of an overpass would also ease the surge in traffic expected on Route 130 with the completion of the Renaissance residential development, Womack said.
"Such an overpass would help with the traffic created by any future development and could make the idea of a transit village in our town more palatable," Womack said.
Councilmen Bruce Chandlee and Bob Davis, Business Administrator Robert Lombard, and Middlesex County Freeholder James Polos also attended the ceremony.
— Jennifer Kohlhepp
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