Gate will be used to close off road
By:John Tredrea
The Hopewell Township Committee voted unanimously Aug. 3 to direct township engineer Paul Pogorzelski to begin design work on closing off the southern end of Dublin Road, at its intersection with Pennington-Washington Road in the south-central township.
The northern end of 1.4 mile-long Dublin Road intersects Pennington-Titusville Road opposite Hopewell Valley Central High School.
The road will be closed by blocking it with a gate, which can be opened on an emergency basis to allow passage by police, first aid, firefighting and other emergency services. Access through the gate by large farm vehicles also will be provided, Mayor Marylou Ferrara said.
Local government’s decision to close off the southern end of Dublin Road comes in response to the requests of many residents of the road, who say it is very hazardous for pedestrians, particularly children, and because of the added traffic Merrill Lynch’s Southfields office park is expected to bring to Dublin Road.
The road, the northern half of which is lined with houses on both sides, is narrow, with several blind hills and turns but no sidewalks. During the school year, many students walk in the road to and from Central High and Timberlane Middle School, located just west of the high school. About a year ago, a young woman from Pennington lost part of a leg after being hit by a van coming over a blind hill while she was jogging on the road.
A township ordinance will be required to actually close down the southern end of the road, Mayor Ferrara said. Introduction of that ordinance is expected Aug. 17, with adoption Sept. 7, she said. In the meantime, unanimous passage of a resolution by the committee Aug. 3 will enable Mr. Pogorzelski to begin the design phase of the project.
As was the case at several previous township committee meetings this summer, many residents of Dublin Road, and of the several township streets that can be accessed only via Dublin Road, spoke on the issue Aug. 3. Once again, most of those favored the closure. Several opposed the change or said the township should wait to see how much traffic Merrill Lynch’s office park actually brings before making a final decision.
"We’ve seen enough," said one resident, at the Aug. 3 meeting, who supported closing down the road. "There’s too much traffic already."
"Waiting to see any more could bring tragedy," said another resident, one of many who expressed concerns about the hazards of children walking on Dublin Road.
Mr. Pogorzelski already has said many obstacles, including drainage ditches, small front yards, large trees and a narrow bridge, are in the way of putting a sidewalk on one or both sides of Dublin Road.
Many residents said the inconvenience of being able to enter and exit Dublin Road only at it northern end would be a small price to pay to protect their children.
Roberta Allen, whose family lives on a farm off the southern half of Dublin Road, opposed the closing.
"I object to blocking the road," Ms. Allen said. "When the kids find out, we’re going to have a race track there every night from midnight to 2 a.m." Like several other residents, Ms. Allen said she felt the fears about traffic from Merrill Lynch "are being exaggerated" and urged the township to delayblocking the road until it sees what Southfields will bring in the way of new traffic.
Other residents said they feel it is inevitable Merrill Lynch will bring a quantum leap in Dublin’s vehicular traffic.
It was in response to the Allen’s family’s concerns that the mayor pledged that large pieces of farm equipment will be able to get through the gate that will block the southern end of Dublin Road.
Slated for 450 acres roughly bounded by Scotch Road to the west, a CSX railroad line to the east, I-95 to the south and Pennington-Washington Crossing Road to the north is Merrill Lynch’s project. Its first two buildings, with offices for over 1,000 workers, are scheduled to open in less than two months. Full buildout, projected for the year 2002, will bring between 5,000 and 7,000 workers to the site, Merrill says.
In addition to several entrances off Scotch Road, the Merrill property will be accessed via a road that will run south off Washington-Crossing Road, a few hundred feet west of its intersection with Dublin Road. It is this intersection that primarily has aroused fears that Southfields will bring much new traffic to the road.
Southfields will occupy the southern half of Merrill’s land. The firm says it has no plans on the drawing board for the northern half. However, under the terms of the township’s 1998 approval of Merrill’s General Development Plan for the 450 acres, the northern half could sustain about the same amount of development as Southfields will bring. That means about 11,000 workers – slightly less than the entire population of the 58-square mile township -could be working on the site before the decade is over.