Adoption vote set Sept. 7
By:John Tredrea
A half-mile section of Dublin Road, measured north from its intersection with Pennington-Washington Crossing Road (Route 546), would be closed to vehicular traffic under an ordinance introduced by a unanimous Hopewell Township Committee vote Aug. 17.
The road would be closed with two gates. One gate would be at the Route 546 intersection, another about a half-mile to the north.
Police, fire and first aid vehicles would be able to open the gates in an emergency. Farm vehicles also would be able to pass through the gates. This clause of the ordinance is in response to the concerns of the Allen family, which owns and operates a farm off the southern half of Dublin Road.
The impetus for the proposed ordinance, scheduled for a public hearing and adoption vote Sept. 7, is public and official concern that already hazardous walking conditions on the 1.4-mile Dublin Road section will worsen substantially once Merrill Lynch’s Southfields office park opens.
A very narrow road lined with houses on both sides of the northern one-half of its length, Dublin has no sidewalks and several blind hills and curves. Its northern end intersects Pennington-Titusville Road opposite an entrance to the parking lot of Hopewell Valley Central High School. For decades, many high school and Timberlane students have walked to and from school on Dublin Road each day. Timberlane Middle School is next to the high school.
The northern entrance to Southfields will intersect Route 546 about 300 feet west of its intersection with Dublin Road, leading many residents and township officials to predict the road will get a quantum leap in traffic once the office park opens.
Its first two buildings, big enough for more than 1,000 workers, are scheduled to open in less than two months. Six more buildings, bringing the workforce to 5,000-7,000 workers, are due to open by 2002, Merrill says.
Southfields will be built on the southern half of Merrill’s 450 acres, which are roughly bounded by I-95 to the south, Route 546 to the north, Scotch Road to the west and a CSX railroad line to the east.
Merrill says it has no plans on the drawing board for the northern half of the property, but under a 1998 General Development Plan approval from the township, it could add enough buildings to bring the total workforce on the 450 acres to about 11,000 people.
During the past few months, the Hopewell Township Committee has discussed the proposed closing of Dublin Road with many residents. Dozens of residents have addressed the issue publicly, with about four residents speaking in favor of closing the road to each resident who opposed it or suggested waiting to see what the actual traffic impact of Southfields will be before making a final decision.
As he has in previous discussions, Township Engineer Paul Pogorzelski said Aug. 17 that putting sidewalks on even one side of Dublin Road is impractical. In response to a resident who said "sidewalks are the civil engineering solution to hazardous pedestrian situations," Mr. Pogorzelski said large trees, wetlands and other factors would force the township to run the sidewalk through the middle of front yards.
Also under the ordinance introduced Aug. 17, Dublin Road will be resurfaced this year, rather than 2002, when it was originally scheduled for that work.