Roundabouts could be tough sell

The New Jersey Department of Transportation wants to install three of the traffic-calming devices in Lambertville as part of its $6 million plan to redesign Route 29.

By: Linda Seida
   LAMBERTVILLE — The first roundabout constructed in Pennsylvania is so popular, officials in Richland Township want to honor the woman who convinced them last year to install the traffic-calming device.
   A roundabout, similar in some ways to a traffic circle but with several significant differences, likely will be a tougher sell in Lambertville.
   As one employee of the New Jersey Department of Transportation was heard to remark under his breath, "I don’t think this one’s gonna fly."
   He’s not alone in his opinion, judging by comments made by some residents and business owners Dec. 8 when the DOT held a public information meeting at the Justice Center.
   "I don’t think it will work," said Arlyce Mullen, who lives along Route 518.
   Ms. Mullen has great difficulty exiting her driveway because of heavy traffic, but she said she was told by the DOT the state agency can’t help her because Route 518 is owned by the county.
   The DOT’s proposed plan to redesign Route 29 and install a roundabout near where 518 spills onto Route 29 will add to the difficulty, not alleviate it, Ms. Mullen said.
   "How am I supposed to get off 518 to get around the circles?" she asked.
   Sam and Bertha Marriott have operated S&B Petroleum at Quarry and Franklin streets for decades.
   "They’re afraid they’re going to lose their business," said the couple’s daughter, Kathy Ent of Mt. Airy-Harbourton Road.
   Customers will have to drive through two roundabouts to reach the Marriotts’ business, Ms. Ent said. Also, large trucks making deliveries won’t be able to turn directly north as they exit their property. Mr. Marriott and Ms. Ent explained the trucks first will have to make a circuit around the roundabout.
   It wasn’t only family who worried about the Marriotts.
   Barbara Hencheck, who lives on Quarry Street, mentioned the couple when she said, "I’m worried about businesses getting hurt."
   Also, Mrs. Hencheck said, if truckers leaving the Marriotts’ property decide not to attempt an exit through a roundabout at Route 29, they might decide instead to exit at Quarry Street.
   Mrs. Hencheck noted five points now meet in proximity where Quarry Street and Brunswick Pike, which also is known as Route 518, empty onto Route 29. The traffic pattern is difficult and confusing.
   "One of the worst things is Brunswick Pike and Quarry Street and Franklin and Route 29 north and south — five points of traffic," she said.
   Amy Kennard of the DOT’s Division of Project Planning and Development pointed to a table where copies of news article about the popularity of the Richland roundabout sat beside other printed materials extolling the advantages of roundabouts versus traffic signals and other papers explaining frequently asked questions about roundabouts.
   To some, like Matt O’Donnell of South Franklin Street, it was like preaching to the choir.
   Mr. O’Donnell already loves the idea of roundabouts on Route 29.
   "I think it’s fabulous because if you live on the other side of Route 29, accessing town is very dangerous," he said. "It’s a way of merging the two (geographic sides of Lambertville) in a nice manner."
   Mr. O’Donnell, who drives daily through circles in Flemington and Somerville, said "Circles work."
   The DOT, however, will point out a roundabout is not a circle. In the printed packet distributed last week at the Justice Center, the DOT states, "They differ from traffic circles in that they are much smaller, that circulating vehicles have the right of way, that yield control is used on all entries and that the speed limit is 15 mph."
   But some residents weren’t buying the DOT-drawn distinctions between a smaller circle called a roundabout and a larger traffic circle.
   "A circle is a circle, isn’t it?" Ms. Mullen said.
   Instead of a roundabout, Ms. Mullen suggested coordinating traffic lights to allow for better traffic flow.
   The DOT’s redesign of Route 29 proposes three roundabouts. One would sit at the intersection of Mount Hope Street, a second at the intersection of Quarry Street and a third would replace the traffic signal at Bridge Street and Route 179. Other changes include a reduction of the speed limit to 25 mph from 40 mph and 35 mph, about 30 more parking spaces along Route 29, landscaping and improved safety features for pedestrians and bicyclists.
   Several people, including Ms. Ent, said they would like to see the City Council host a meeting with the DOT where everyone can hear all questions and answers. Last week at the Justice Center, it was an open house type of gathering, where participants roamed the room and asked questions of individual representatives of the agency one-on-one.
   "We will probably have a meeting on it," Mayor David Del Vecchio said Saturday although he could not say when.
   He also said he is prepared to appoint two City Council members to act as liaisons to residents and the DOT.
   "I still have a lot of questions," Mayor Del Vecchio said.
   He praised the DOT for its efforts to try to resolve residents’ and merchants’ concerns.
   "They’ve been responsive, they really have," the mayor said. "I’m just not sure if they’ve been successful."
   "If the council requests that we come in, we’d be more than happy to," Ms. Kennard said.
   South Franklin Street resident Steve Robbins, a former employee of the DOT, said the question that should be asked is not whether people favor or revile the redesign project. Instead, he questioned whether the redesign would ever be built because the state’s Transportation Trust Fund is nearly bankrupt.
   Mr. Robbins said the project is "only a possibility if somebody comes up with manna from heaven. It’s not going to happen unless the department comes up with some kind of way to fund this."
   In an e-mail, Mr. Robbins said, "Since this traffic-calming project — which is not a necessary or urgent safety-related project — is unlikely to be given serious consideration for many years, expressing a preference for it or against it is somewhat meaningless. My guess is that it is unlikely to be seriously considered for at least five or six years, by which time there may be several circumstances — business shifts, changes in population demographics and other considerations —that may reflect different traffic flow patterns, which would make this plan somewhat obsolete or unnecessary."
   Mayor Del Vecchio recently moderated a meeting on the Transportation Trust Fund crisis for the New Jersey League of Municipalities, of which he is first vice president. He said he believes the funding crisis would be averted although he offered no theory of what state legislators’ solution would be.
   "Who knows what form it’ll be," Mayor Del Vecchio said. "There has to be, otherwise, no project can go forward."
   The redesign project’s estimated construction cost is $6 million. The DOT estimates construction will take place from May 2009 to December 2010.
   "We’re optimistic the legislature will do the right thing," said Bob Marshall, a DOT manager of project and development.
   A young woman leaving the Justice Center welcomed the news a lack of funds might hamstring the project.
   "Well, it makes me feel better," she said to a companion. "They don’t have any money."