To the editor:
As one of the "small but vocal minority" opposed to Route 92, I have read the entire Draft Environmental Impact Statement, and will be submitting detailed commentary and questions on behalf of the New Jersey Chapter of the Sierra Club.
Rather than find "the answers to all my questions in the DEIS," I found myself with far more questions than answers.
"Will the road ‘dump’ traffic in local communities?" If the community is Kingston, for example, the answer is "yes." The DEIS predicts 20 more trucks per day squeezing onto the narrow Heathcote Road. According to the DEIS, population and employment in the study area will increase dramatically by 2028. Even with Route 92, most of the intersections studied in the DEIS will be at a level of service of F, meaning that one will wait at least a minute to get through each of these intersections. Route 92 is a Band-Aid on a gaping wound. It will not solve regional traffic problems.
"Will the road increase development and sprawl?" Yes, if by that one means that already-permitted development will be accelerated by the construction of the highway, according to the DEIS.
Ironically, much of the sprawl in Plainsboro was planned with the assumption that Route 92 would indeed be built.
"Why not improve existing roads?" If one is to believe the logic of the DEIS authors, one would summarily dismiss widening and improvements of local roads such as Route 522. But what the DEIS ignores is the planned extension of Route 522 to Route 130. And why must Route 522 become a six-lane road? The DOT has been removing traffic lights on Route 1 from Lawrenceville to West Winsdor. Why not continue the trend through South Brunswick?
We could go on and on like this in a print firefight. But wouldn’t it be better if we could all get together neighbors, businesses, mayors, environmental organizations, historic preservation groups, the state Department of Transportation, state Department of Environmental Protection, the N.J. Turnpike Authority, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers any other stakeholders to discuss this and find a solution we can all live with? Why not form a Partners Roundtable like the one for the Penns Neck Area EIS? It worked in West Windsor, and it can work here, too.
Laura Lynch
Conservation Chairwoman
New Jersey Chapter
of the Sierra Club
