New traffic signals to tie in to Conrail train
By Maria Prato-Gaines, Staff Writer
JAMESBURG — Plans to improve one of the borough’s most troublesome intersections will have to wait until concerns from Conrail are addressed.
The intersection is regulated by stop signs on East Railroad Avenue and the southbound lane of Gatzmer Avenue at its intersection with Lincoln Avenue. A yield sign is located on West Railroad Avenue where it meets Gatzmer.
A right of way is given to northbound traffic on Gatzmer Avenue and westbound traffic on Lincoln Avenue. A yield sign is located on West Railroad Avenue where it meets Gatzmer Avenue.
In addition, a Conrail freight train runs through the intersection regularly, and the Conrail wants to make sure the train and proposed traffic lights are in synch.
Carl Messina, a senior project engineer for Alaimo Associates, a firm hired by Middlesex County to coordinate and assist in the design of the project, said his company sent a preliminary draft of proposed intersection changes to Conrail.
”The fact that we have five roadways, six legs if you will, to the intersection and a railroad right in the middle makes it difficult,” he said.
The plan calls for two signaled intersections one set at East Railroad, Lincoln and Gatzmer avenues and another at Half Acre Road and Gatzmer Avenue, he said.
It also would limit drivers to a right turn from West Railroad onto Gatzmer Avenue, which would then bring the driver to a traffic light at Gatzmer and Lincoln avenues, he said.
Conrail has since asked that changes be made to the plan, which Mr. Messina said his company is in the process of doing.
”It was more to tie the oncoming train to the signal,” he said. “So all vehicles will stop when the train approaches.”
Mr. Messina said his company hopes to complete and send the plans to Conrail and the state’s New Jersey Railroad Engineering and Safety Unit[bwo: check the name – can’t find any trace of that “division”: ] for approval sometime in February.
”Sometime in the next couple months we should get the final word from the railroad and hopefully be done by next year,” Mr. Messina said.
The confusing five-way intersection is often prone to congestion and is due for some improvements, said Mayor Anthony LaMantia.
”Some days you don’t know which way to go,” Mayor LaMantia said. “It’s a hard area that, thank God, we haven’t had too many problems with.”
In addition to adding traffic signals and rerouting some traffic the plans also include pavement restoration and new concrete curbs and sidewalk along portions of Half-Acre Road, Lincoln, Gatzmer, East Railroad and West Railroad Avenue.
Another reason for the project’s delay is that state law designates how far parking can be from a traffic signal. As a result, parking spaces will have to be removed from the vicinity of Jamesburg Hardware & Appliance, Mr. Messina said. The plans call for moving some parking behind the store.
”It’s one of our businesses that has been around for years — it’s a cornerstone of Jamesburg,” Mayor LaMantia said. “We don’t want to do away with business. I more or less made that one of our main concerns.”
Although there’s no concrete timeline, Mr. Messina said that once the county completes the final design and both the state and Conrail approve it, the borough can proceed with plans to acquire small portions of land for the traffic signals and the project can finally move forward.