Can new talks bypass the kink in Route 206 plan?

Montgomery officials optimistic their alternate proposal for new roadway will get serious consideration

By: Greg Forester
   MONTGOMERY — The state is moving to resolve more than two decades of conflict with Montgomery and Hillsborough over the proposed design of the Route 206 bypass.
   Representatives from the two townships and Somerset County were scheduled to meet with the New Jersey Department of Transportation in Ewing today to discuss "an alternative" to the $190 million freeway plan.
   According to a letter of invitation to the participants from Richard T. Hammer, an assistant DOT commissioner, the objective was "to develop an alternative that can be supported by the Somerset County, Hillsborough Township and Montgomery Township."
   Louise Wilson, Montgomery’s deputy mayor, said that Hammer’s letter "is unlike anything we’ve ever seen during this process" and had prompted optimism on the part of the township.
   "We’re going down there ready to make a breakthrough" she said.
   The Route 206 bypass plan, which calls for a freeway beginning at Doctor’s Way in Hillsborough and terminating at Belle Mead-Griggstown Road in Montgomery, has been delayed and revised since the late 1980s and is the last vestige of a group of planned freeways that were never built.
   In recent years, Montgomery Township has argued that the bypass plan needs revision to deal with the growth in population and development in the Hillsborough-Montgomery corridor since an environmental study of the plan was done during its inception.
   "Our argument to look at the plan anew really has gotten stronger," said Deputy Mayor Wilson.
   An independent study by Montgomery in 2000 showed that of all the traffic on Route 206 coming from Hillsborough into Montgomery, 70 percent remains on Route 206, while 30 percent splits off in the area of the railroad bridge in Belle Mead and heads down Route 601.
   Despite this split, the bypass is planned to terminate at Belle Mead-Griggstown Road, south of the Route 206 and 601 intersection.
   Montgomery officials said that this poses a major problem for an area already choked with automobiles, because the bypass would help channel more of the Route 206 traffic from Hillsborough onto Route 206 in Montgomery. This would also lead to congestion on the roads running east-west that connect Route 206 and Route 601, which are located in the heart of Montgomery and connect many residential neighborhoods, they said.
   The original plan, which proposed turning Route 206 into a four-lane divided highway all the way to Route 518 in Montgomery, was dropped in a 1992 agreement between the township and the state. That agreement produced the current plan, which could be further amended as a result of today’s meeting.
   Hillsborough supports the Route 206 bypass plan because its current Master Plan calls for the stretch of Route 206 that would be relieved of traffic by the bypass to become the town’s "main street" area, or downtown. The bypass would allow enough traffic to be siphoned off the highway to reduce speed limits and commence development in the area.
   The Hillsborough Master Plan also calls for part of the land surrounding the bypass to be developed for businesses and offices, bringing new ratables to the township.
   However, according to Montgomery officials, this development along the bypass route would also bring more traffic onto Route 206 in Montgomery, which already suffers from long lines of backed-up cars during rush hour.
   Montgomery has commissioned several studies looking at alternatives to the plan, with most proposing to change the bypass’s termination point to roads north of the Route 206-Route 601 split, around Route 206’s intersection with Mountain View Road in Hillsborough, officials said.
   These shorter versions of the bypass plan would also cost less to build, Deputy Mayor Wilson said, because they would eliminate several interchanges as well as a bridge over wetlands near the terminus of the route in Montgomery.
   Richard Jaffe, who manages the DOT’s Smart Solutions and Value Management Unit, is facilitating the all-day workshop at the DOT’s offices on Parkway Avenue in Ewing.