19 June 2007

Two Oh Six

If you've been following the blog, you know I used a couple of entries last week to detail the issues surrounding the latest plan for the Route 206 bypass. I've wanted to give you my opinion of the new plan - but I must admit that I have had a hard time getting started. I haven't been able to get a feel for the central question that needs to be answered.

I think I have a handle on it now, but first - some "other" questions.

What makes a good highway bypass? First, it needs to be long enough to actually bypass the congested or dangerous area. That doesn't mean it has to be very long at all - the Amwell Rd. bypass is less than a mile long and still does a great job of moving traffic.

Second, it needs to make geographic sense. A bypass can't loop around in such a convoluted way as to add a significant amount of mileage to the route. This is of course relative to the length of the original route, but certainly a bypass that is three times the length of the direct route would be hard to take (pun intended).

Third, a bypass needs to have enough lanes to handle ALL of the anticipated traffic. A driver should never have to consider taking the old route because the bypass is congested. Indeed there are some highway bypasses in New Jersey that may even be OVERbuilt - Rt. 133 in West Windsor comes to mind. That relatively short highway that connects Rt. 571 in west Windsor to Rt. 33 in East Windsor, bypassing Hightstown, never seems to have any significant amount of traffic.

Fourth, traffic lights, stop signs, and railroad grade crossings need to be kept to a minimum - but there may be an exception to this, which I'll get to you later.

Last, the bypass needs to be seamless. The two endpoints should be invisible to the driver. A typical thru-traffic motorist should not be aware that they are on a "bypass" - again, think Amwell Rd. between East Mountain Rd. and Marshall Rd. In fact, the new highway should be able to quickly lose its "bypass" designation, as it takes over from the old route.

How does all of this fit into the latest 206 bypass proposal? And what question should we be asking ourselves now? Check in tomorrow to find out.

In the meantime, what other attributes must a good highway bypass possess? Let me know.

6 comments:

  1. I think your bypass criteria is pretty good with one exception. The length of the bypass is somewhat irrelevant. It is the time to traverse the area that is important. For example, the beltway in DC may well exceed your multiple of 3 criteria, but I would not even consider trying to drive straight through. If you are even considering a bypass, then I think it is primarily to alleviate congestion. Why is that bad? Because of the time it takes to get from point A to point B. Keeping that in mind, some of the other attributes you list fall into place. For example, why have few or no traffic lights? Well traffic lights slow traffic and therefore increase the time it takes to travel the area. As such traffic lights are in general undesirable. You reap side benefits when you keep time in mind. No traffic lights? You will greater increase the fuel economy of the vehicles in that area over the stop and go mileage they experience in the congestion route. You decrease the pollution in the area, etc.

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  2. Spokey, you are exactly right. In fact I was thinking of the DC beltway while I was writing this, and changed my original idea from twice the length to three times the length because of that.

    Travel time is the most important factor, but frustartion is also a factor. There are times, for instance, when I would rather wait in traffic to cross a highway where a traffic light exists, rather than be first in line at an unsignalled crossing waiting for a break in traffic, looking left, right, left, right, left, right, left....

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  3. I don't mind an occasional light on arterial roads. For example, I think Amwell road is about right. I think they misplaced the new light near ShopRite, should have made it at ShopRite, but by and large well placed lights.

    You should not be sitting at an intersection on a bypass going back and forth. There should be very few entry / exit points and they should be ramped. I don't think a 206 bypass should have any more than one exit. Unfortunately Amwell makes the most sense which makes me think that no exits might be best.

    Don't forget that roads can and do have entrances without exits and exits without entrances. I'd buy into several entrances so you could pull local traffic onto the bypass when locals want to go south into Montgomery or further north in Hillsborough or beyond.

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  4. Time to Re-Huddle

    Or maybe even bring in a new playbook. 20 years ago the original by-pass looked good on paper, but that was 20 years ago and it was a much different by-bass than the one put in front of us now.

    Seems to me the current plans will do nothing to relieve congestion traveling south on 206, as the congestion starts just south of Brooks Blvd., where the road narrows to two lanes and continues south backing up at Valley, K-mart and Triangle. None of this is addressed in the current plan.

    As far as north bound we all know what a mess morning traffic is starting at Triangle and heading North all the way to Brooks Blvd until the road widens to 4 or more lanes. Again, this is NOT addressed in the current plan.

    Also, there really isn’t too much of a traffic problem once you get passed Raider Blvd going south and coming north it’s not much of a problem till you hit Raider.

    So what will a by-pass from Old Somerville Road to Mountain View Road do for us? Nothing really, well other then perhaps drive the current businesses in the real center of town out of business.

    But this may all be for not. The way I understand it the State has some real major traffic problems on it’s hands along Rt 1, the Turnpike, Rt 17 and most if not all of Jersey City just to name a few places. Fact is folks in our cash strapped state our little annoyance out here is simply not going to get funded. I know, I know, it’s not fair and that ticks me off too, but the way I see it, we don’t have a prayer. Sorry to say but as it stands now my money is on the fact we’ll end up watching our hard earned tax money rebuilding the Pulaski Skyway or some other major city artery as we sit in Hillsborough traffic looking at our rapidly disappearing country side.

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  5. 08844's comments are very accurate. The updated bypass proposal doesn't address the traffic problems on the northern side of town. I think a good bypass should be zoned and developed in such a manner that it doesn't eventually damage the town it's designed to support. There's lots of open space on the east side of town, and not all of it is preserved. Big box retail development, strip malls, motels and sprawl tend to follow big new roads. Without proper zoning along the bypass, we could be looking at a lot of vacant retail space along 206 if the establishments decide to move to the "better" road. I haven't heard any reassurances from the state or from the town that firm zoning rules are in place to prevent this. Also, I haven't seen too many re-developers sign up to build in the proposed "town center". I would think such redevelopment would be more focused on blighted areas. Unless I am missing something in HBoro, I don't see too many empty storefronts along 206 in the vicinity of the new town center. So many questions!! Oh, and..has anyone ever seen / reviewed the traffic study that showed so many cars exiting 206 on to 601? I only pass by every morning, but I just haven't seen the traffic pouring to the right as I make that hard left.....

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  6. About Vacant Store Fronts

    Look a Bit Closer and you’ll find there are either 3 or 4 vacant store fronts between Decanto’s and the old Ace Hardware/National pool place. Also, the old Farmer’s Market space next to K-Mart has been vacant for years.

    Development is driven by need; the field of dreams was just a movie. No ONE is going to put Millions of Dollars into a town center in HOPES they will come, particularly given a town center that just might be by-passed!

    I support a fully functioning By-pass and I support a new town center that resolves many of the real and serious problems we currently have. But, as I’ve suggested before, it just might be time for all parties concerned to regroup and take a brand new look at all of these issues before we blindly jump out of the frying pan and into the fire.

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