EAST BRUNSWICK – The Township Council has adopted an ordinance amending the municipal code to reduce the speed limit on Cranbury Road from the northernmost Evergreen Boulevard intersection.
Business Administrator Joseph Criscuolo said on Dec. 14 that the reason for this speed limit reduction is for the continuation of bicycle paths.
“Cranbury Road is a county road and according to the state requirements and the county requirements on their roads, the speed limit will have to be lowered in order to make the changes, or add that bike lane, to get us all the way up to East Brunswick High School,” Criscuolo said. “So it’s our intention to keep widening the bike paths within the town.”
Before the ordinance was adopted, Councilman James Wendell said, “I would just like to say that I don’t support lowering the speed limit on Cranbury Road. It’s dangerous, but the speed limit is also necessary where it’s at. I think we should have found an alternate route for the bike lane rather than having it on the side of Cranbury Road.”
In a 4-1 vote during the Dec. 28 council meeting, the council members adopted the ordinance amending the municipal code to reduce the speed limit on Cranbury Road from the northernmost Evergreen Boulevard intersection to Summerhill Road from 40 mph to 35 mph.
Council President Sterley Stanley, vice President Sharon Sullivan and Councilmen Kevin McEvoy and Michael Spadafino voted “yes.” Wendell voted “no.”
Criscuolo said the township cannot put the bike lane in if it is at the current speed on Cranbury Road.
“We can if it’s reduced to 35 mph, but the data that was applied in the full traffic study and report by our engineer supports changing that and meeting all the rules,” Criscuolo said. “So like I said, there’s a rather lengthy report outlining that if the speed limit is not reduced the bike lane would not be permissible.”
With the ordinance adopted by the council, Criscuolo said the township will notify the county and continue the bike lanes all the way up to the high school at 380 Cranbury Road so anyone would be able to bike from there to the recreation department building at 350 Dunhams Corner Road and hopefully to the track.
“This is just a continuation of the bike lane project that the mayor and the council have been so gracious to fund and move forward with and we just want to get this path up to the high school,” Criscuolo said.
Contact Vashti Harris at [email protected].