The study focuses mainly on what to do with the main artery into Roebling, the Route 130/ Hornberger Avenue intersection.
By: Scott Morgan
FLORENCE As the township looks to rebuild the site of the once-mighty Roebling Steel Mill, officials must study the idea from every angle. That, of course, includes traffic, broken down to its most basic question how many vehicles will need to get in and out of the mill site once it reopens as a center of commerce in Roebling?
During the Nov. 10 Township Council meeting, representatives from the state Department of Transportation and the Mount Laurel-based engineering firm Vollmer Associates revealed the results of yearlong study into that very question.
The study, seeking to determine what impact a revitalized steel mill would have on traffic patterns, focuses mainly on what to do with the main artery into Roebling, the Route 130/Hornberger Avenue intersection. If the plant were to be used for business again as officials thoroughly expect it to be the intersection either would need to be aligned or abandoned in favor of connecting Hornberger Avenue to Fairbrook Drive, roughly a quarter mile south, according to the results of the study.
The important thing to remember, cautioned Township Administrator Richard Brook, is that this study is only that purely academic. The study, conducted by DOT, Vollmer and Burlington County redevelopment agencies, and paid for by DOT, is just a guide, Mr. Brook said; something that may be used or discarded at the township’s pleasure. The reason to do the study, and its value to residents and officials, he said, is to have something concrete on the shelf in case it is needed in the future.
"There is no doubt that if … the Roebling plant were to ever become a viable property," Mr. Brook said, "the township has to look at the question, ‘How will traffic get in and out of this site.’"
Mr. Brook said that by some estimates, a regenerated steel mill/commercial district could add up to 2,000 new jobs to the township.
According to the study, which gauged traffic flow at the Route 130/Hornberger Avenue intersection in November 2003 and at the Route 130/Fairbrook Drive intersection in May of this year, the heaviest traffic averaging 1,720 vehicles per hour occurs at Hornberger Avenue during the evening rush hour. Evening rush hour at Fairbrook Drive, the study found, averaged a little less than 400 vehicles per hour.
Projecting 10 years into the future, when township officials expect to have 20 percent of the steel mill site operating, there would be roughly 2,500 vehicles per hour at the Hornberger if the roads were unchanged, according to the study. Projecting to 2029, when the entire site is expected to be in full use, there could be 3,000 or more vehicles per hour in the same situation, the study found.
To combat what the study found to be imminent and substantial traffic capacity problems by 2029, two alternatives were submitted. One is to widen the existing Route 130/Hornberger Avenue intersection, creating a four-lane route into Roebling.
The second, and more highly recommended, solution is to abandon the intersection and connect Fairbrook Drive to a segment of Hornberger Avenue that is closer to the steel plant site. While the first alternative would be cheaper (officials had no monetary figures, but the first would involve far less construction), it would take large swaths of land near the intersection, including the Amoco gas station, which would then have to be cleaned.
Jeff Smithline of Vollmer Associates said the second alternative is far safer, as it builds in left turn capabilities at Fairbrook Drive that do not currently exist, and provides greater relief in traffic flow.
Mr. Smithline also recommended that township and regional planning officials study the development of the entire region surrounding Roebling, from growth in Mansfield and Bordentown to already-rejuvenated sites within the township such as the Haines Industrial Center on Route 130 near the Burlington Township border. These sites, he said, will dictate traffic flow as much as any development at the steel mill.
Township officials said it was important to hear the study and, perhaps, more important, to just have it done. While officials reiterated that the study is only a study and not a policy the township is planning to embark upon any time soon, they said its value is to have a ready-made study on the shelf when development at the steel mill becomes more pressing.
"It all depends on how the steel mill redevelopment goes," said Assistant Township Administrator Tom Sahol. "The council can take under evaluation the tools that Vollmer provided," he said.
In the future, if the township needs to look at what will become of the traffic near Hornberger avenue, Mr. Sahol said, it won’t have to go through a major study; it will have one ready.