Council votes 5-1 to approve plans containing controversial islands
By: Jennifer Potash
Reconstruction of Hodge Road will go forward with speed humps, speed tables and traffic islands despite continued and varied complaints from residents.
Last month, the council agreed to revisit the issue of the traffic islands when the final plans were completed. The plans were competed this month.
On Tuesday, council members voted 5-1 to approve the plans containing the controversial islands.
About 25 residents of Hodge Road, Lafayette Road and Library Place were in attendance at the council meeting to lobby the council one last time on the project. Many called for removal of traffic islands, but others urged that the islands be maintained.
Councilwoman Wendy Benchley voted no.
“I still believe the islands are a hazard with leaf collection, snow removal and parking of vehicles,” she said.
The residents opposed to the islands cited difficulty getting their vehicles in and out of their driveways when temporary islands were installed. Some of the residents said they wanted speed humps instead of the islands.
Two residents, Charles Plohn and Pete Callaway, hired the Manalapan-based engineering firm of Schoor DePalma to review the plans and suggest alternatives to the traffic islands.
Elizabeth Oltman, an engineer with the firm, suggested adding a third speed hump on the western portion of Hodge Road, in place of one of the traffic islands near the curve of the road. She also suggested another hump, instead of a traffic island, on Hodge Road east of its intersection with Library Place.
Borough Engineer Carl Peters said the curve of Hodge Road and intersections with Library Place and Lafayette Road make speed humps too dangerous.
“I have said all along I will not put speed humps in those locations,” he said.
Mr. Peters also noted that a design with speed humps in place of the islands might not be approved by the state Department of Transportation.
When asked by Councilman David Goldfarb if the islands would slow traffic if speed humps are unsuitable, Ms. Oltman replied she “believes the islands will be effective.”
The islands were redesigned after officials from the Princeton Fire Department and the Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad raised concerns that emergency vehicles could be damaged trying to clear islands.
The new cobblestone islands will be 5 inches high at the center, 6 feet wide and 50 feet long, Mr. Peters said.
The borough and the Hodge Road residents have struggled for four years over the reconstruction of the road. Residents have long complained about traffic speeding through the neighborhood.
Traffic-calming devices were first proposed for Hodge Road in June 1998. After experimenting with traffic islands and neck downs, which narrow the road and were not popular with the residents, the council voted in October to install temporary speed humps for a testing phase.
If they worked, the devices would be included in the final plans. The council decided at an April 11 meeting that the traffic islands would remain at the triangle at Lafayette and Hodge roads.
As adopted Tuesday by the council, there will be two speed humps along the western portion of Hodge Road and speed tables, or raised crosswalks, at the Lilac Lane and Morven Street intersections along Hodge Road.
Since that April meeting, a group of about 50 residents held a neighborhood meeting, started a petition drive and hired an attorney, in an effort to get the council to reconsider its plan.
Meanwhile, a handful of residents whose homes abut the triangle at Lafayette and Hodge Road, along with some Hodge Road residents, urged the council to keep the islands, saying the devices make the intersection much safer.
The plan adopted Tuesday includes three mid-street islands on Hodge Road: one east of the intersection of Hodge Road and Library Place, one immediately east of the triangle between Lafayette Road and Library Place and one immediately west of the triangle beyond Lafayette Road.
By delaying final approval, the borough risked losing a $300,000 state grant for the project. The borough promised the state the work would be completed by November, Mr. Peters said.
The total project cost is estimated at $920,000.