DOT’s road plan irks businesses, residents

DOT’s road plan irks
businesses, residents

A project proposed by the state and aimed at reducing traffic congestion at a busy Route 9 intersection in Freehold Township may do as much harm as good, according to some who oppose the project.

The state Department of Transportation (DOT) unfolded plans to the public last week for a $4.5 million project aimed at reducing congestion and improving the flow of traffic approaching and traveling through the intersection of Route 9, Schanck Road and Route 79.

According to DOT spokesman William Cochran, the project has been in the planning stages for several years, but construction will not begin until fall 2003.

Cochran said the proposed changes to improve the intersection include the widening of Route 9 approaching and leading away from the intersection and the reconfiguration of existing ramps.

The plans as currently proposed call for driveways from Route 9 into a Mobil gas station and a Burger King restaurant at the intersection to be closed. Customers would be required to turn on to Schanck Road and enter the business from that street.

Leah Eyal, who has leased the gas station for 30 years, claimed that rerouting customer traffic from Route 9 to Schanck Road will mean a loss of 90 percent of her business.

"Who is really going to do that?" Eyal asked at a DOT informational meeting held at town hall, referring to customers who would be expected to turn on to Schanck Road to enter the two businesses and exit the same way to get back on to Route 9.

Eyal said she could see the change resulting in a loss of customers that could mean anything from having to lay off one or more of her five employees, to the possibility of losing her lease with Mobil if the corporation decides the business is no longer viable at that location.

Joseph Anghelone, the owner-manager of Burger King, said while he "appreciates the concept of the project," the proposed closing of the Route 9 access points will "virtually condemn my business."

Anghelone, who has a workforce of 40 employees at Burger King, said he, too, might have to lay off workers if business dropped. He acknowledged that he was aware of the proposed road work before he made more than $250,000 worth of renovations to the building over the past year.

Anghelone said he proceeded with the work because "township officials have always been supportive of township businesses and I am looking for their support at this time."

Cochran said the project as presented has the approval of the Township Committee. He said the proposed closing of the driveways to Burger King and Mobil were being made for safety reasons, but said DOT engineers would be "more than glad to reassess the existing plans."

"We are here to hear people’s concerns, we certainly don’t want to hurt anyone. The plan is to alleviate problems, not create them," the DOT spokesman said.

Cochran said DOT administrators would be willing to look at other options, "if we can."

Township Engineer Joseph Mavuro was also on hand at the Sept. 19 meeting. Noting that Freehold Township has no jurisdiction at the site and cannot stop the project from proceeding, Mavuro said the finished project will bring much needed traffic safety improvements and facilitate the approach of traffic to and from the intersection.

The project is planned to include reconfigurations that will eliminate some existing highway ramps and reroute others. Included among these would be the construction of an exit ramp from Route 9 south to Stonehurst Boulevard, bringing traffic back to Schanck Road to proceed across Route 9 to Route 79.

It is that change that has some people upset.

Joseph Mercurio, a resident of Georgia Road who owns a rental home on Stonehurst Boulevard, said he has never seen a plan in New Jersey in which a major highway exit is placed on a residential street.

Mercurio called the proposed project the "aneurysm approach to traffic control," referring to the plan to create a two-lane to three-lane to four-lane approach to the intersection from the north and south and then back to three lanes to two lanes farther up the highway in both directions.

Terry Conway of Stonehurst Boulevard said the plan will only take the existing traffic problem and move it a little more north and south.

He voiced concern for what he said is a largely Hispanic community of renters who live in the Stonehurst apartments who walk along Stonehurst Boulevard early in the morning to get to their jobs in downtown Freehold and then late at night to do their shopping at nearby Pathmark and ShopRite supermarkets.

Conway said having traffic from Route 9 exit onto a street with such heavy pedestrian traffic is "an accident waiting to happen."

Mayor David Segal said the Township Committee has asked the DOT to review its design plans.

"Let’s face it, everyone is going to be impacted by this. We just asked the DOT to take another look and see how or if they can minimize the impact of the project on the businesses and residents in the area and they said they would," Segal said.