EDITORIAL: The Cranbury Township Committee and school board have a responsibility to students, parents and other residents to clean up the traffic mess at the Cranbury School.
Baseball is America’s favorite pastime.
That’s why Cranbury is looking to build two new ballfields behind the Cranbury School.
And while we think the ballfields will be a great addition to the community, we are worried that the traffic they will attract will make a bad situation at the school and along Main Street at the intersection of Schoolhouse Lane worse.
Cranbury must move on improvements to the intersection and the parking area at the school before it builds two new ball fields at the Cranbury School.
The current traffic problem is most evident during the school’s peak hours, morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up. The volume of traffic generated by commuters, school buses and parents dropping their children off in addition to the number of pedestrians often brings the area to a standstill. And the only way to successfully navigate the intersection is with the help of a police officer acting as a crossing guard. For safety’s sake, improvements can and must be made, with or without the proposed ball fields.
But the situation is likely to get worse as the ball fields attract their fair share of traffic during the evenings and weekends.
The fields are slated to be built on the West Property, adjacent to the rear of the Cranbury School. Great additions to the area, they not only will give the recently reformed Cranbury School baseball teams a place to play (they will be playing their entire schedule on the road this year), but also will be host to Little League games and give ex-Little Leaguers looking to make the jump to the Babe Ruth League the opportunity to do so.
The township needs to head off potential problems by moving on plans to improve parking and circulation in the area now. The Township Committee and school board, at the request of the Police Department, have been working for several years on making the area safer.
The Township Committee and school board have proposed to build a new, 60-spot parking lot, an access road into the lot from Park Place and pedestrian friendly walkways. The improvements were to have been implemented before the beginning of the current year.
The sticking point has centered around changes to the area’s traffic circulation. There has been much discussion about whether Schoolhouse Lane should remain a two-way access road or be changed to a one-way road.
But all the discussion has left plans for improvements on hold. And adding the ball fields without fixing the circulation problems would be irresponsible.
As we’ve said in the past, the Township Committee and school board have a responsibility to students, parents and other residents to clean up the traffic mess at the school and ensure the area is as safe as it can be. The access road should be built and the parking added and every effort should be made to get the work done before September. The question of whether the circulation plan should allow one-way or two-way traffic can be answered once the work is completed.
Officials keep saying they all want to play ball on this. It’s time for someone to actually step up to the plate.