The section of Route 31 between I-95 and the Pennington Circle accounts for 25 percent of the motor vehicle accidents in 58-square-mile Hopewell Township.
By John Tredrea
Lower speed limits, changing the lane configuration to allow construction of shoulders, prohibiting left turns on and off the road, closing down several intersections and building a bypass were among the many ideas mentioned at a session held Monday night on the topic of Route 31.
Hopewell Township residents made these and other suggestions at the meeting held to find ideas for improving Route 31 between I-95 and the Pennington Circle.
Because Route 31 is a state road, the New Jersey Department of Transportation (DOT) has jurisdiction over it. This means any changes to Route 31, or to roads abutting it, have to be approved by the DOT.
About 100 residents of Route 31 and adjoining streets jammed township hall to standing-room-only capacity for the meeting, with Mayor Arlene Kemp presiding, to discuss what to do about this notorious stretch of road.
Only about a mile long, the section of Route 31 between I-95 and the Pennington Circle accounts for 25 percent of the motor vehicle accidents in the 58-square-mile township. There have been several fatal accidents on this stretch of Route 31 in recent years. Two occurred during 2004, police said. Statistics for previous years were not readily available.
Between I-95 and the circle, Route 31 is four lanes wide with no median and very narrow, if any shoulders. The road is winding, has several hilly stretches and is intersected by dozens of driveways and several residential streets with no traffic lights, including Orchard, and Crest avenues on the northbound side and Diverty Road on the southbound side. There is a traffic signal at the recently constructed intersection of Denow Road and Route 31. That light is midway between the circle and the interstate. Residents of the streets without traffic lights say getting in and out of them involves taking their lives in their hands.
"Diverty is obviously a problem Orchard and Crest also," said Township Engineer Paul Pogorzelski. "We’d like to see the state move along" on improving conditions on Route 31, he added.
The state has rejected a township request to change the configuration of Route 31 to have one northbound lane, one southbound lane and a passing lane between them. The switch from four to three lanes would make room for shoulders.
Mayor Kemp said Monday night that the state nixed this proposal because of the high volume of traffic on Route 31 south of the Pennington Circle. She said that, during peak hours, there are up to 1,000 more cars per hour on Route 31 south of the circle than north of it, according to DOT studies.
Residents objected to the notion of using the volume of traffic on the road as a justification for maintaining unsafe conditions. "I don’t see why volume of traffic outweighs issues of safety," was how one man put it. "That makes no sense to me."
Other residents made similar comments about the state’s failure to do anything about Route 31, which has been the object of vigorous complaints for decades, particularly since a missing section of I-287 was completed upstate in the 1990s. Since then, the volume of traffic, particularly trucks, on Route 31 has increased dramatically.
"Driving on Route 31 has gotten to be like white-water rafting," said Steve Hujber, who lives just off the highway.
The speed vehicles go on Route 31 is a problem, many residents said. The limit between the interstate and circle is 45 mph. Many vehicles go much faster than that, residents said. "Getting in and out of your driveway and staying in one piece is a real test," one resident said.
Engineer Pogorzelski said lowering the speed limit from 45 mph between the circle and the intestate probably would make the road safer. "Some problems are speed-related," Mr. Pogorzelski said. "If they (the state) could take it down a notch or two (5 or 10 mph), that would probably help."
Police Chief Michael Chipowsky concurred: "A limit 5 mph slower would give officers a better chance of enforcing it."
Township officials have been saying for years that Route 31’s lack of shoulders makes it difficult to enforce the speed limit there. Asked why a median cannot be put up between the two northbound and two southbound lanes, the mayor replied Monday night: "The road isn’t wide enough to allow that."
Chief Chipowsky said: "A lot of accidents involve vehicles making left turns, or waiting to make left turns. I’m of the opinion that there should be no lefts allowed between the circle and I-95."
Mayor Kemp and Mr. Pogorzelski said they would confer with the DOT about the residents’ complaints and suggestions.
In addition to reducing the number of lanes, thereby allowing shoulders, lowering the speed limit, and prohibition of left turns, suggestions aired at Monday night’s meeting included closing off the intersections of Orchard and Crest avenues with Route 31 and, at the same time, building connections between existing dead-end residential streets just east of the highway. That way, traffic could be routed to Denow Road, which intersects Route 31 at the only traffic light between the interstate and the circle.
Another suggestion, which would cost millions of dollars, was to build a bypass west of Route 31. The bypass could run near, and parallel to the CSX railroad line, said Route 31 resident Jean Weasner and several other residents.
"We’ll tell the state what suggestions we heard tonight and then try to work out some scenarios" to improve the road, Mayor Kemp told the residents when the meeting adjourned.