Cranbury, East Windsor leaders say the major cause for the traffic jams is a narrowing of the Turnpike just after Exit 8A.
By: T.J. Furman
The mayors of Cranbury and East Windsor will be working together over the coming weeks and months to find a solution to a traffic build-up on Route 130 that both officials think needs to be alleviated soon.
East Windsor Mayor Janice Mironov and Cranbury Mayor Michael Mayes both said they believe the delays became a significant problem over the past year and are magnified during rush hour.
"It’s been a combination of personal observances and feedback from residents raising this as a concern," Mayor Mironov said Wednesday. "Somebody made a comment to me on Saturday afternoon … that they would have assumed the Turnpike was closed."
Mayor Mayes said the traffic on the road during the afternoon rush hour is almost bumper-to-bumper.
"To go from the (Cranbury) Circle to the Princeton-Hightstown Road (Route 571), it can sometimes take a good 20 to 30 minutes to go one to two miles," he said Thursday.
Both mayors said they believe the major cause for the traffic jams is a narrowing of the N.J. Turnpike just after Exit 8A. Mayor Mironov said the problems begin at Routes 32 and 130 in Cranbury Route 32 leads to Exit 8A and begin to alleviate at Routes 571 and 130 in East Windsor.
The southbound lanes of the Turnpike decrease in number from six (three for cars only and three for trucks, buses and cars) to three shortly after Exit 8A, causing a traffic jam on the highway at that point. Mayor Mayes said the backups on that highway can become more of a problem than the ones on Route 130. Mayor Mironov said she thinks many motorists are leaving the Turnpike at Exit 8A to avoid that traffic jam and then using Route 130 South.
"People that normally would get off at Exits 8 or 7A or 7 are getting off there," Mayor Mironov said.
Mayor Mayes said he has heard anecdotal evidence that points to the same cause.
Also, a smaller number of toll booths at Exit 8 in East Windsor can lead to backups at that interchange which motorists may seek to avoid, Mayor Mironov said.
Mayor Mironov suggested that Route 571 is a point at which the traffic begins to disperse because it is a roadway that can take motorists to points from Hightstown out to Princeton.
Mayor Mayes said the traffic from Route 32 to the Cranbury Circle on Route 130 is heavy, but that the true backups don’t begin until the circle because of the succession of traffic lights southbound from the circle to Route 571.
"That obviously slows things down," he said.
At first, Mayor Mironov said she thought the problem might have been caused by the timing of those traffic lights, but a look across the median destroyed that theory. The mayor said that East Windsor does not "have this issue northbound" and that it would if the timing of the traffic lights was the cause of the problem.
Instead, the steady increase in housing in central New Jersey finally may be manifesting itself in an increase of motorists, Mayor Mironov said.
"There are more and more people moving into this area," she said. "Central New Jersey has sort of been a boom for new housing."
Mayor Mayes also said Cranbury is experiencing heavy traffic at the Route 130 intersections with Dey and Half Acre roads. He said that problem also may be caused by trucks and motorists attempting to avoid the tolls and traffic on the Turnpike.
Mayor Mironov sought and received the informal approval of the East Windsor Township Council Tuesday to work with Mayor Mayes and Cranbury to find a solution to the traffic headaches. She said speaking with the Turnpike Authority and the state Department of Transportation would be a good step.
The Turnpike Authority could continue to find more creative ways to get motorists to stay on the Turnpike past Exit 8A or to stagger their travel times so as to avoid the rush-hour backup where the lanes decrease as a way to alleviate the problem, Mayor Mironov said.
Another solution is apparent as well.
"It would seem that some widening of the Turnpike would go a long way to alleviating some of the congestion on the Turnpike," she said.
Mayor Mayes also suggested speaking with Middlesex and Mercer county officials and neighboring communities experiencing similar problems would be a positive step to take.

