Hopewell Township residents, officials mull Route 31 safety issues

Most controversial proposals discussed involved restricting or eliminating access to Orchard and Crest avenues to and from Route 31

By John Tredrea
   Intense disagreement among residents who live on streets just east of Route 31 in southernmost Hopewell Township marked the Nov. 2 session of ongoing talks between residents, township and state officials about how to make Route 31 safer.
   The most controversial proposals discussed at the session involved restricting or eliminating access to Orchard and Crest avenues to and from Route 31.
   Under one option, Orchard and Crest would be turned into cul-de-sacs. Under another, Orchard and Crest avenues would be made one-way streets running west, making it no longer possible to turn into those streets from Route 31. Under either option, access to and from the neighborhood would be via Denow Road and new connections to Orchard and Crest from Plymouth and, perhaps, Beech streets. Denow Road intersects Route 31 at a traffic light, north of Orchard and Crest.
   Residents of Orchard and Crest backed plans for the new connections with Plymouth or Beech, saying it would enable them to get in and out of their neighborhood safely. It also would eliminate the problem, they said, of school buses having to pick up children on Route 31, as they do now.
   "I have seen trucks come to a screeching halt to avoid hitting a school bus stopped on Route 31," said Toni Henson, who lives on that road. "It’s an accident waiting to happen. It’s just a matter of time if we don’t do something."
   Residents who opposed connecting Plymouth and Beech to other streets supported what they viewed as less drastic measures. These included prohibiting left turns on and off Route 31, lowering speed limits, or changing Route 31 from two lanes each north and south to one lane in each direction, with a center turning lane for left turns. In reply, Steve Nemeth of the state DOT, who chaired the meeting, said some motorists ignore signs. He said the DOT would be loath to change the 45-mph speed limit or reduce the number of lanes, feeling that the resulting slow down of traffic would add new safety problems to the ones already in existence.
   Although residents were far from consensus on what to do about the Orchard-Crest-Plymouth-Beech neighborhood, residents of Diverty Road who attended the meeting agreed that their street should end in a cul-de-sac, instead of intersecting Route 31 as it does now.
   "I’m for it," Harry Guyer said of the cul-de-sac. "There’s no safe turn on or off 31 from Diverty. It’s going to get you sooner or later."
   If Diverty Road is made into a cul-de-sac, a project that would require township and state approval, its residents would reach Route 31 via Reed and Pennington-Washington Crossing roads.
   There was no consensus on a proposal for residents who live on Route 31 itself. This proposal, like the others on the table at the meeting, had been worked out during a series of meetings between the DOT, residents, and township officials, including Mayor Arlene Kemp and municipal Engineer Paul Pogorzelski.
   For those whose driveways intersect with Route 31, the proposal on the table Nov. 2 was to close those driveways and build an alley behind the houses. The alleys would be used to access homes. Overall, residents on the east side of the highway liked this idea. However, several residents on the west side, whose lots are larger, objected to it.
   As a result, talks on this issue, like that of the Orchard-Crest neighborhood, were scheduled to continue last night (Wednesday). Messrs. Nemeth and Pogorzelski assured residents that the proposals under discussion were only suggestions, not plans that state and municipal government are determined to see through to completion.
   "If a plan doesn’t work for everyone, we won’t implement it," Mr. Pogorzelski said. "We don’t want to impact your lifestyle in a negative way."