By Birgitta Wolfe, Managing Editor
BORDENTOWN CITY The elusive solution to the traffic crunch where routes 130 and 206 merge has been studied for a year and on Monday Ellis Kim, an engineer with the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, presented the Bordentown City Commission with some options.
The short-term solution, termed a “road diet,” calls for eliminating one lane in the Route 206 approach upstream before it merges, according to the DVRPC study on the Route 206-130 corridor traffic.
This would be relatively inexpensive since no new right-of-way is needed.
The eliminated lane would be used as shoulder space where none exits now, Mr. Kim said. It would it reduced the crossing distance for pedestrian, calm traffic and, optimistically, could be accomplished within this calendar year, pending Department of Transportation approval, he said.
Long-term, a “multi-multi year solution” would involve a roundabout (a circular intersection) north of the township administration building that would eliminate the current merge.
This involves getting rid of the Route 206 overpass that goes over Route 130, according to the study.
The roundabout would make it easier for truckers to get to I-295 and the turnpike and discourage them from using Farnsworth Avenue, Mr. Kim said.
A medium-term solution would be creating a new road, a one-way south bypass connecting Dunns Mill Road and Rising Sun.
Private land would have to be acquired for the right-of-way, but Mr. Kim said he was told it might be available.
Another medium-term solution would be creating a pedestrian crossing at the routes 206-130 merge at Ward Avenue – Elizabeth Street. It could be either a pedestrian-controlled signal or a compete intersection that would eliminate a three-quarter mile walk to the next crossing,
Commissioner Zigmont Targonski asked about putting up signs directing truckers to the truck stop off Route 206 by the turnpike. Currently the signs just say “Bordentown,” sending huge rigs into Bordentown City streets, when the actual stop is in Bordentown Township.
Once the big trucks get into the city, they have trouble getting out and knock down wires, fire hydrants and damage utility poles, he said.
Bordentown City Mayor James Lynch said the idea for the traffic study was born about two years ago when then-Assemblyman Joseph Malone, a city resident, got local leaders, DOT and state economic development officials together at DOT headquarters in Ewing to come up with answers.

