MANALAPAN – Traffic patterns at and around the proposed Manalapan Crossing continue to be a source of concern for residents who are following the development application’s process before the Manalapan Planning Board.
Testimony on the application is scheduled to resume at the 7:30 p.m. Oct. 25 meeting of the Planning Board at the municipal building. Cardinale Enterprises is proposing to construct a mixed use commercial and residential development at the corner of Route 33 and Millhurst Road in Manalapan.
Hearings on the proposed development have taken place on Sept. 13 and Oct. 11.
Cardinale Enterprises is seeking preliminary and final major subdivision approval and preliminary and final major site plan approval for 280 age-restricted single-family homes and for a commercial development consisting of a convenience store and gas station, a bank, a two-story medical office building, two retail/restaurant buildings, a three-story mixed use retail and affordable housing building containing a minimum of 50 affordable housing units, and an additional three-story medical office building.
Manalapan Crossing conforms with regulations that govern Manalapan’s Mixed Use Inclusionary Overlay Zone in the Village Commercial zone at Route 33 and Millhurst Road, according to the developer’s representatives.
On Oct. 11, Nicholas Verderese, of Dynamic Traffic, Lake Como, described the $6 million worth of road improvements the developer has said it would make on Millhurst Road, Sweetmans Lane and Route 33 in conjunction with the development of Manalapan Crossing.
Verderese said the proposed road improvements have received conditional approval from Monmouth County and he said the improvements remain under review by the state Department of Transportation (DOT), with permits from the DOT anticipated within 60 days. Millhurst Road is a county road and Route 33 is a state highway.
Cardinale Enterprises is proposing to install a traffic light on Millhurst Road at the intersection of Whitlock Court and a new street designated as Crossing Lane; to create a new intersection at Route 33 and Crossing Lane and install a traffic light at that location; and to essentially rebuild Sweetmans Lane between Kinney Road and Route 33, and Millhurst Road between Route 33 and Canonero Boulevard.
Regarding the proposed traffic light at Route 33 and Crossing Road, Verderese said that signal will be timed with the traffic lights at Route 33 and Millhurst Road and Route 33 and Pegasus Boulevard and he said the new signal “will not have a deleterious effect on traffic on Route 33.”
He said the new traffic light on the highway would be about 1,800 feet from Millhurst Road and about 2,100 feet from Pegasus Boulevard. Pegasus Boulevard is an entrance to the Four Seasons at Manalapan adult community.
Verderese described the intersection of Route 33, Sweetmans Lane and Millhurst Road as having “substandard geometry that has not changed since the 1960s.”
Reiterating testimony he presented on Sept. 13, Verderese said the addition of lanes of travel on Sweetmans Lane and Millhurst Road at the intersection of Route 33 will result in a shortening of the vehicle backups that occur now on both roads that lead to the highway.
Verderese said the future queues would be shorter because vehicles will have more lanes to enter as they approach Route 33 (i.e., a left turn lane, a through lane, a right turn lane).
The existing single lane on Sweetmans Lane and the existing single lane on Millhurst Road cause backups than can reach 900 feet and require motorists to sit through multiple traffic light cycles to cross Route 33 or turn onto the state highway.
Township Committeeman David Kane, who sits on the Planning Board, said a key concern for residents is how the vehicle flow will be at and around Manalapan Crossing.
Township Engineer James Winckowski said, “It’s about green light time and the number of lanes you have. We agree with the (developer’s) plan, Monmouth County agrees and the state is about to agree.”
Verderese summed up the situation, saying, “If we had an F minus, minus, minus, that is the situation we would have now” at Route 33 and Millhurst Road. “The additional (proposed) lanes far make up for the additional traffic” to be generated by Manalapan Crossing, he said.
Board member Steven Kastell said he believes that heading north on Millhurst Road, the development of Manalapan Crossing will have a negative impact on conditions at the intersection of Millhurst Road, Main Street and Woodward Road.
Verderese said Monmouth County is planning to improve that intersection independent of the Manalapan Crossing project.
Verderese said Manalapan Crossing would generate 100 vehicles in each direction on Millhurst Road during peak hours. The peak hours would be 7:30-8:30 a.m. weekdays, 4:45-5:45 p.m. weekdays, and 12:15-1:15 p.m. weekends. He said the development would generate fewer vehicles in each direction during non-peak hours.
Residents had an opportunity to ask questions about Verderese’s testimony.
Residents of the Four Seasons adult community, which is adjacent to the Manalapan Crossing property, as well as individuals who live in developments off Millhurst Road – along Hedgerow Lane, Village Road, Covenhoven Road and Candido Court – expressed concern about the potential difficulty of turning onto Millhurst Road with additional traffic heading to and coming from Manalapan Crossing, and skepticism regarding Verderese’s assertion that the addition of travel lanes near Route 33 would result in shorter vehicle backups on Millhurst Road and Sweetmans Lane.
During the past year, resident Brad Berger, who lives near the site where Manalapan Crossing is proposed, has asked township officials to conduct a traffic study on Millhurst Road between Route 33 and Main Street/Woodward Road.
He said there has been significant residential development off Millhurst Road during the past decade and asserted that an updated traffic study conducted by Manalapan is warranted before a project as large as Manalapan Crossing is approved.
Berger has said he is particularly concerned about school buses that use Millhurst Road and the additional traffic that would be generated by Manalapan Crossing. He was one of the residents who questioned Verderese during the Oct. 9 meeting.