MANALAPAN – Municipal officials are asking engineers from Monmouth County and the state to evaluate an intersection that some Manalapan residents assert is having a negative effect on their quality of life.
On Aug. 9, the Township Committee passed a resolution requesting the state Department of Transportation (DOT) and Monmouth County to conduct a traffic evaluation and study of the intersection of Wickatunk and Tennent roads over Route 9 at the Gordons Corner Road overpass.
The committee said it has “previously requested the DOT make adjustments and improvements to this intersection.”
The resolution states that the DOT “renovated the Gordons Corner Road bridge over Route 9 and at that time advised the township that (the DOT) would not be performing any additional intersection improvements now or in the future.”
Officials said they are asking again for an evaluation and study of the intersection of Wickatunk and Tennent roads in order to determine what improvements are necessary at the location.
The resolution was passed several weeks after residents of Wickatunk Road spoke during a committee meeting and stated their objections to an application that is currently before the Manalapan Zoning Board of Adjustment.
In that application, Next Generation TS LLC is seeking a use variance to construct a medical office building in a residential zone on property where Wickatunk and Tennent roads intersect.
Residents are objecting to a commercial use on residential property and have told the zoning board they believe a traffic situation that is untenable at certain times of the day will be made worse by a building that houses medical offices.
Testimony offered to the zoning board by the applicant has indicated a driver’s wait to travel through the intersection can reach 400 seconds (6 minutes, 40 seconds) at certain times of the day.
The presence of the medical office building could result in a wait time of 500 seconds (8 minutes, 20 seconds) at certain times of the day, according to a traffic expert who testified on behalf of the applicant.
When the residents addressed the Township Committee in July, Township Attorney Roger McLaughlin told them their elected officials cannot take a position on the Next Generation application because it is being heard by the zoning board, which is a quasi-judicial body.
On Aug. 9, McLaughlin reiterated that position, but he said if residents present a petition outlining their concerns to their elected officials, the governing body can forward the petition to the DOT.
Shortly afterward, the committee passed its resolution asking the county and the state to evaluate the intersection of Wickatunk and Tennent roads without taking a position on the application that is before the zoning board.