Christie Opens First Section of Route 206 Bypass



With Joan Biondi and family in attendance, Hillsborough Township Mayor Frank DelCore and Governor Chris Christie formally opened the first completed section of the Route 206 Bypass named in honor of Assemblyman Pete Biondi who passed away in 2011.

 

Hillsborough Mayor Frank DelCore, Senator Kip Bateman, Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, Governor Chris Christie, Assemblywoman Donna Simon, and Congressman Leonard Lance at the opening of the Peter J. Biondi Route 206 Bypass on Monday October 28, 2013

 

The governor remarked on Pete's legacy of public service, told a story about a gift of cuff links from Pete, and let everyone know that as a New Jersey commuter, he was as anxious as anyone to see the construction of the final two sections of the bypass project, now expected to be completed in 2018.



 

Pete Biondi in 2010

 

No doubt about it, the highway, as it exists right now, is a bit of a "road to nowhere", running between Amwell Road and Hillsborough Road.  Until the southern connection at Route 206 and Mountainview Road, and the northern connection at Route 206 and Old Somerville Road are completed, the road is likely to have limited usefulness.

 

After the brief ceremony, residents and dignitaries who were in attendance had the option to exit the roadway by driving south on the bypass to Hillsborough Road.  Which is exactly what I did.

 

Right Place? Wrong Time!

There's only one reason 469 apartments, 130 hotel rooms, and 20,000 square ft. of retail space is not suitable for the 50 acre site on the northbound side of Route 206 just south of Valley Road:

TRAFFIC!

Make no mistake, this is what it all hinges on.  Don't wander off into other arguments - stick with this.

And the soon (ha!) to be completed 206 bypass is only going to make things worse.

Let's break it down point by point:

1. Traffic northbound between Triangle Rd. and Brown Ave. is already a mess during rush hour. 
2. There is a plan to widen 206 through this stretch - but no funding is identified, and no firm commitments have been made to begin work.
3. There are currently 8 traffic lights between the Montgomery-Hillsborough border and Triangle Rd.  These lights have the effect of metering northbound traffic.  When the bypass is completed, there will only be two lights (Hillsborough and Amwell Roads) causing traffic to speed quickly northbound into the nightmare.
4. The applicant (Route 206 Enterprises, LLC) is expecting minor improvements to Route 206 along their frontage to include a center left turn lane, for access to both their development and United Rent All across the highway - we know how well those work!
5. Even if the center lane could be made to work acceptably, that solution is only applicable BEFORE work begins to widen 206.  When that work begins, all bets are off, as the road will need to be kept open while work is going on - a completely different operation than what is taking place now on the bypass - and no doubt as is typical in this kind of project the road will be reduced to a single very narrow lane in each direction.
6. The eventual widening of the highway in this area will be a long difficult project - not only will the road need to stay open, but there is a railroad bridge to replace, streams to be dealt with, etc.

We must conclude that no additional development take place at that location until ALL of the improvements to Route 206 - the bypass and the widening - have been completed.  At the very least, hold off construction until the bypass is completed (next year?) so we can see what effect all of the additional northbound traffic will have on the Triangle to Valley stretch of highway.

As I said in my previous post, I am not automatically opposed to development of this type, or even to development at that location.  But just because this may be the right place, doesn't mean it's the right time.

Route 206 Traffic

UPDATE: With three hours to go, April 10, 2011 has a chance to become my busiest blog day in 18 months. 

It's 2:30 on a Sunday afternoon and the Hillsborough traffic is out of control.

No, not the highway traffic.  I'm talking about the traffic on this blog!

With plenty of browsing hours left, visits to "Gillette on Hillsborough" are already triple what I would receive on an average day.

What accounts for the spike in popularity?  It has to be the story this morning in the Star Ledger about the Route 206 bypass project.  Once again, the newspaper has failed to provide the one thing that people are really interested in - A MAP!.  I know this because nearly all of the visits to the blog today are from people searching for "route 206 bypass map".

Just a few years ago, it would have been common to see a map accompanying a story like this.  In fact, computers made the creation of this type of graphic relatively easy - hence we saw a welcome increase in tables and charts and maps in the paper. 

Obviously someone realized that the person creating the graphics had to get paid.

Since I don't get paid, and therefore can't be downsized, you can click here to see my map of the 206 bypass.

New Route 206 Bypass Map

With the announcement last week that a local Hillsborough company - Carbro Constructors Corp. - has been awarded the contract to begin the construction of the first phase of the Route 206 Bypass project, I decided to take another look at the official plan that I posted here about a year ago.

And then I decided to create a simpler version highlighting the portion of the roadway that will begin construction this year and be completed in 2012.

In the age of Photoshop when I can start with a scrap of a Hillsborough zoning map and turn it into this in just a few minutes, there is no reason that a map of this type shouldn't at least occasionally accompany a newspaper story about the Bypass.

But what do I know?

Early Christmas Present

The state is seeking bids for construction of the first phase of the Route 206 bypass project. This part of the highway will run from Amwell Road to Hillsborough Road, and involves intersections with traffic lights at Hillsborough Road and near Amwell Road, as well as bridges over Homestead Road and the Conrail rail line.

Construction expected to begin in 2010!

Route 206 Bypass Plan

For those of you looking for a map of the Route 206 bypass plan through Hillsborough, here is the most recent map that I have found. If anyone knows of a more current plan, please let me know.

Click on the image to view and print the map.

Update - July 21, 2010: I created a simpler version of the 206 Bypass Map - click here.

The New Amwell Road

Now that we are closer than ever to realizing the long-awaited Route 206 bypass, it may be a good time to pay tribute to Hillsborough's first bypass.

click on the map to see the big picture

In the beginning, there was the Amwell Road - an important highway going back to colonial times winding from New Brunswick to Amwell. At some point in the first half of the 19th century a new road was built paralleling Amwell Road between Millstone River Road and Beekman Lane.

That new, improved highway was called the New Amwell Road!

The 1860 Farm Map of Hillsboro shows both routes. I have traced the original Amwell Road in red, and the New Amwell Road in blue.

It is easy to see the advantages the new route had over the older in 1860. It was a more direct route, on a newer road, and only required a 2/10 of a mile jog at Beekman Lane to get back on Amwell Road.

So why didn't the New Amwell Road become the dominant East-West traverse through Hillsborough? Why didn't it become County Route 514? My guess is that it came down to business. We know Woods Tavern was on this stretch of Amwell Road, as were, undoubtedly, other businesses. Ultimately, it was the original Amwell Road that was continually improved and upgraded over the years, while New Amwell lagged behind.

This is conjecture, of course, but if any readers have other information or theories about Hillsborough's original bypass, I'd love to hear them.

[The 1860 New Amwell Road consisted of today's New Amwell Road and Hamilton Road. Before the construction of Route 206 split the road in two, this was one continuous route.]

The Bypass Is Coming

You didn't think I was talking about THAT bypass, did you?

This is a map of Somerset County showing one of the many proposed routes for Interstate 95 - the 1974 version.



Notice how the mapmakers have been very careful not to touch one square foot of Montgomery Township. Instead, the Somerset Freeway bisects Hillsborough quite neatly.

What's up with that?

Find out tomorrow!

Bypass Can Wait

To be clear - my opinion is that the 2 segments of the Route 206 bypass project that are scheduled to begin next - Amwell Road to Hillsborough Road, then Old Somerville Road to Amwell Road - should be the LAST to be built.

These segments constitute the actual "bypass" - a project that is tied into the redevelopment of the original Route 206 into a downtown "main street". With the recession in the commercial and residential real estate markets, this development is still a long way off.

While we wait, the difficult and expensive part of the 206 rehabilitation - from Brown Avenue to Old Somerville Road - can provide real benefits now. Not just in reducing traffic, but in other areas such as correcting flood control issues that plague the highway.

What's One-Sixth of 206? Less Than You Think

In a recent news story, Somerset County Freeholder Peter Palmer discussed the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority's proposed spending plan for fiscal year 2010 which includes $19 million for a portion of the Route 206 bypass project. This money would be used for the stretch of highway running from Amwell Road to Hillsborough Road - or, in other words, just one-sixth of the project.

Mr. Palmer pointed out that the first third of the bypass - from the Somerville Circle to Brown Avenue was already complete, leaving just two-thirds remaining. I have to disagree. While the rebuilding of that part of Route 206 was much needed and is well appreciated, it does not BYPASS anything, hence, it is not part of the bypass.

Mr. Palmer also acknowledges that funding has yet to be found for what I believe to be the most important part of the project - the section from Brown Avenue to Old Somerville Road. This segment of the Route 206 reconstruction - also not really part of the "bypass" - is estimated to cost upwards of $43 million. I believe this is the most worthy part of the project still to be built - an improved highway that will stand on its own whether or not the real bypass is ever built. Without it, the bypass essentially becomes, at worst, another "road to nowhere", or, at best, a faster path to the traffic jam!

Road to Somewhere!

During this campaign season we heard a lot about "bridges to nowhere". In 2009, Hillsborough could very well see construction begin on our very own "highway to nowhere" - the Route 206 bypass. The planned road will take northbound motorists from Montgomery Township and points south on a parallel course east of the old Route 206, around Hillsborough's "downtown", and link back up with the current highway near Old Somerville Road.

Anyone who has tried to travel north out of Hillsborough during rush hour knows that traffic doesn't get bad until AFTER Old Somerville Road! The real snarl begins at Triangle Road, and continues to Brown Avenue. This is the section of Route 206 that needs to be improved - with or without the bypass.

It is encouraging to see that at least some of our leaders have now acknowledged the importance of this section of highway. Last week Mayor Ferrera called on New Jersey's US Senators to include the widening of Route 206 between Old Somerville Road and Brown Avenue in any new economic stimulus package.

This $108 million project is the only part of the 206 bypass plan that could actually stand on its own - without the CSX bridge reconfiguration in Belle Mead or the bypass itself - yet it is the only part of the plan that has had no funds allocated thus far. Amazing!

Mayor Ferrera, keep the pressure on. Let's make sure the 206 bypass becomes a "road to somewhere".

Somewhere other than the world's largest traffic jam, that is.

So Bad...It's Bad!

For the past year I have been undecided as to whether I believed the Route 206 bypass through Hillsborough would ever be built. I have had many doubts that we would ever see another highway in this town - all justified seeing as "paper projects" such as I95 and the Somerset Freeway have been planned and discarded numerous times since the 1950s!

New Jersey has a long history of not implementing projects and initiatives until they have been folded, spindled, and mutilated into worthlessness. Take for example COAH - where we now learn that a family whose house was lost in a fire can't rebuild without paying a COAH fee. Or Abbott schools - where one of the worst performing districts in the state has a superintendent making $300,000.

Because up until recently I still felt that the 206 bypass had some value, I was very doubtful it would ever be built! Even with the truncated route, the two lanes at the southern end, and the traffic lights, the plan was not quite ruined.

The revelation earlier this month the the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority has allocated no money for what is arguably the most congested part of Route 206 - from Triangle Road to Brown Avenue - has finally convinced me that this project IS going forward. A great useless road that will speed northbound travelers quickly to Triangle, and then leave them in a rush hour nightmare on a daily basis.

Yes, this finally sounds like a New Jersey project. I can hear the DOT sharpening their shovels already. They sure didn't sharpen their pencils!

Up and Over

Hillsborough Township residents will be pleased to learn that of the $240 million in Somerset County road and bridge projects authorized by the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority, $85 million is slated for the Route 206 bypass project. This spending covers the four year period between 2009 and 2012.

There are 20 Somerset County projects in the agency's Transportation Improvement Program - which encompasses 13 northern New Jersey counties and calls for $10 billion in total spending.

The Route 206 bypass is by far the most expensive project in the county - but I was most intrigued by the least expensive project.

$770,000 is allocated for "grade separation" of the Norfolk Southern rail crossing at 13th Avenue in Manville. This is Manville's only grade crossing on this rail line, and the only place other than Main Street for cars or pedestrians to legally cross between the northern and southern parts of the borough.

To separate the grade crossing, 13th Avenue will need to go over or under the tracks - not easy to accomplish in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Hillsborough has four grade crossings on this rail line - Beekman Lane, Auten Road, Valley Road, and Roycefield Road. It seems to me that any one of these would be easier to "separate" than 13th Avenue, and of course no grade crossing means no more train horn.

So, will Hillsborough ever get any bridges over the railroad tracks? Yes! $4 million has been allocated to replace the existing bridges at Hillsborough Road and Homestead Road over the CSX rail line.

Ho hum.

Ready to Roll?

According to the State of New Jersey, the Route 206 bypass project is "on track". On track? What does that mean - construction ready to start this year? O.K., how about 2009? No? Would you believe 2010? That's what they would like you to believe.

And you may as well forget about Brown Avenue to Old Somerville Road. That is where the REAL traffic is - and it will only get worse if the bypass is built. Yet no one is talking about that very expensive project (streams to bridge, railroad bridges to be rebuilt), because it is too expensive to even TALK about.

Are you still a believer?

Take a look at this map from 1968.




That's 40 years folks, and still no relief. Want to go for another 40?

Forget the Bypass

I'm done with valentines - now it's time to get serious!

After today, I don't care if they ever build the Route 206 bypass. Just fix the highway between Triangle Road and Brown Avenue - including that railroad bridge!

I am now confident that widening just that stretch of 206 would solve 75% of our problems.

Traffic congestion occurs when there are too many cars on the road. Let's get the cars to where they are going - FASTER. Widening the road doesn't just create twice as much space to park cars - it actually gets cars OFF the road by allowing drivers to get to their exits more quickly.

I'd be willing to have the bypass project be killed permanently if the state would promise to fix that northern stretch of our beloved highway this year.

Who's with me?

206, I Love You

You had me at "Hello".

That was about fifteen years ago, when our romance began. Although you've changed over the years - gotten wider in all the wrong places - I could never leave you. I could list a dozen reasons why you are maddening - and still I remain.

For better or worse, you make this town. You are the heart and soul of Hillsborough. Even today there is no escaping you. Especially today, there was no escaping you - north, or south!

Happy Valentine's Day, Dear Highway. I think I speak for all the residents of Hillsborough when I say, "206, You complete me".

Good Ideas Are Always Welcome

What would you say if I told you I had the solution for the Route 206 bypass and Town Center problems. I know, you've been hearing that for 20 years or more. But this idea will really work - all I need is a time-machine.

It's true - good ideas never go out of style. The problem is finding the good idea when you need it. A lot of good ideas fall into the category of "if we only knew then what we know now". This is one of those.

This alternate idea for a Town Center is not my own. It was conveyed to me not long ago by a former Hillsborough Township official. He's someone who cares very much about the town, and is still looking for ways to make it better - even if some of those ideas now require Doc Brown's DeLorean.

The idea: We need to go back in time about 20 years - to a time when Triangle Road was still shaped like a triangle, and Auten Road was mostly dirt and gravel. When we get there, we need to change the zoning for Auten Road between New Amwell and New Center Roads to allow for a - get this - "pedestrian friendly town center". Triangle Road could be extended to Beekman Lane, as was done in the early 90s, and businesses could line Auten Road - our new Main Street!

A beautiful, convenient, downtown shopping district would be created, where now we have only a CVS and a few storefronts. And it would be within walking distance of thousands of residents. And the best part - Route 206 would become its own bypass! with the gas stations and fast food drive thrus that cater to the motoring public, but without the traffic of people running their errands.

Alas, this can't happen now. But these kinds of exercises are important. Examining what we could have done differently in the past helps us see what we can do right in the future.

Yes, good ideas never go out of style, even if they are 20 years too late!

Now, Clean Your Room!

On Saturday my wife and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary. Adding the six years we dated before getting married makes a total of 23 years we have been together - happily!

There are no secrets to a happy marriage, but there are some constants. One constant is negotiation. Sometimes it seems like everything that can be negotiated, will be negotiated. and contrary to what you might have heard, it's not always "win-win".

Before I began this blog entry I spent a few minutes "googling" articles on negotiation. Surprisingly, some of the pieces I read did not even mention the word "compromise". That's hard to understand, since I have always believed that to get something you want, you need to give up something you want. It's a rare person that has everything.

Reading Pamela Sroka's article in Sunday's Courier News got me thinking about how negotiation and compromise played into the current Route 206 bypass proposal. Of the three major players - Hillsborough, Montgomery, and the New Jersey DOT - who gave up the most, and who gained the most with this "comporomise" bypass.

Initially, Hillsborough wanted a four-lane bypass from Belle Mead-Griggstown Rd. to Old Somerville Rd. NJ DOT also wanted this bypass - and they also wanted a four-lane Route 206 from Belle Mead-Griggstown Rd. south to Route 518. Montgomery wanted no bypass through the Pike Run development, and no dualization of Rt. 206 through their town.

Just based on these facts, it is clear that Hillsborough's interests were perfectly compatible with the interests of the DOT. Whereas Montgomery's interests were incompatible with everyone else's.

But it was never just about these facts. There were two other crucial factors that came to the fore near the end of the process - Time and Money! Hillsborough wants the bypass now - NJ DOT wants it cheaper - and Montgomery doesn't care about either of these issues.

In the end, Hillsborough will give up the idea of building the bypass through Pike Run in order to build it sooner. The DOT will give up the idea of a four-lane bypass to build it cheaper - and Montgomery, by default, will get everything it wants.

I guess in this marriage that makes Montgomery the 8 year old daughter. I just hope now that she has everything she wants, she'll clean her room!

Y2K + 13

From angelic immortality to the end of the world - and it's all about Hillsborough!

Recent discussion in Hillsborough, and in this blog, of long term projects has got me thinking about how much time I have left - and how much time we have left. It may be less than we think!

How long is "long term" anyway? The DOT has described the proposed Rt. 206 bypass as a solution that would be good for 20 or 30 years. That's fine, but we are only 10 years into a 50 year plan to turn the old 206 into a pedestrian friendly "town center". (Some long time residents will tell you we are 40 years into this plan!) Somehow the calendar doesn't quite add up. We are anticipating the re-activation of passenger service on the West Trenton rail line, discontinued 25 years ago - a plan that can not happen until a new rail tunnel is built under the Hudson River. Who knows when that project will ever get started, or how long THAT might take!

Will any of us be here to see any of these projects completed? - and does it matter? Those of you who remember the Y2K "emergency" recall the dire predictions for December 31, 1999 - utilities would shut down, planes would fall from the sky - but the end of the world was also predicted for Y1K, and many other times in the past 1000 years.

The Shakers thought the world would end in 1792. Jehovah's Witnesses have predicted many end dates: 1914, 1915, 1918, 1920, 1925, 1941, 1975, 1994.

Now here come the Maya. An article in today's New York Times Magazine details the Central American civilization's complex calendar system. The Maya, whose civilization flourished during their classical period from 300 to 900 A.D., were experts in astronomy and celestial calendars. They thought of time as a series of "world age cycles", and predicted the current cycle to be completed on December 21, 2012.

What is supposed to happen on December 21, 2012? No one knows. The end of our world - the beginning of a new world - no one is sure what the Maya had in mind. What I want to know is will the 206 bypass be finished? Wait, I just thought of something - isn't the completion of the 206 bypass one of the signs of the apocalypse?!?!?!

All kidding aside, I'm not getting caught up in talk of "end times" - at least not until we near the real computer catastrophe end of the world - Y10K!!! (think about it programmers - and get coding, you only have 7,992 1/2 years to get this fixed!)

206 2.0 part 2

I've been thinking about whether or not the new Route 206 bypass proposal has all of the necessary attributes to perform as promised. Earlier this week I outlined my ingredients for a good bypass - and yesterday I started going through them point by point. Take a look at yesterday's blog to see how the bypass fared on: length, geography, and traffic volume - then come back here and we'll finish.

1. Length? yes
   
   
2. Geography? yes
   
   
3. Traffic Volume? no
   
   
4. Are traffic lights, stop signs and railroad grade crossings kept to a minimum? The addition of the lights at Hillsborough Rd. and near Amwell Rd. mean that the answer to this has to be no. I will say though that the clever design of the interchange at Amwell Road is a good compromise between a full-sized cloverleaf, and a typical signalized intersection. And there is another consideration. If you think about how traffic moves on the current Rt. 206 - especially northbound - you can see how the lights at Amwell, New Amwell, Andria Ave., and Triangle Rd. actually work to meter the traffic as it heads to the bottleneck past Triangle. The traffic lights on the bypass will serve the same purpose.
   
   
5. Finally - Are the northern and southern ends of the bypass blended seamlessly into the current highway? For the northern terminus near Old Somerville Road the answer is yes. Starting at Farm Road, the highway will be reconstructed in such a way that the southbound thru traffic will flow nicely to the bypass. The same can't be said for the Mountain View Rd. area at the southern end. From looking at the plan, it is unclear to me what the incentive will be to choose the bypass over continuing straight on the old 206. Ultimately this may have more to do with psychology than traffic patterns!
   
   

I have a lot more to say on this topic, but frankly I am all blogged out. I think I'll "bypass" 206 for a while - at least until I hear some more of your comments.

See you at the next exit!