Freehold does about-face on road construction plan

FREEHOLD — Borough officials are convinced that a proposal by the state Department of Transportation to widen the intersection at Route 33 and Route 79 will actually do more harm than good.

The state’s plan, which would widen Route 79 (South Street) from Brinckerhoff Avenue to Barkalow Avenue and cost about $1 million, would slice away large sections of residents’ properties, especially between Park Avenue and Barkalow Avenue.

Houses on that stretch of South Street are already close to traffic and the state project would only worsen that situation, borough officials contend. The proposal would call for the elimination of many of the large old trees that line South Street.

Earlier this year the Borough Council approved a resolution in support of the state’s proposal, but after reviewing an Aug. 3 report prepared by its engineer, Abbington Associates, the governing body has rescinded its support of the project.

When state DOT officials held an informational meeting at Borough Hall on April 5 concerning the project, a number of South Street residents voiced concerns that the project would have a negative impact on their quality of life and property values. Some of the residents even threatened legal action in the matter.

For several decades county and state officials have considered the Park Avenue-South Street intersection to be one of the worst traffic "hot spots" in the area.

DOT officials said proposed improvements have been designed to expedite the flow of traffic through the intersection during what state officials called the "oversaturated conditions during rush hours."

Some residents, while admitting that traffic congestion at the intersection is bad, were concerned that the DOT improvements will encourage even more motorists to use Route 79 (South Street) to enter or leave the borough.

"There’s going to be a lot of traffic at that intersection no matter what the state does," Mayor Michael Wilson said. "We don’t believe there will be enough benefit from the project to offset the loss of property and trees. As we see it, the project would cause a hardship for many of our residents. Hopefully, with the completion of the Route 33 bypass and the Kozloski Road extension, a lot of through traffic will be diverted from South Street."

State officials said earlier this year that they have been working on the Park Avenue-South Street project for about six years. They said the current proposal has been scaled down from earlier designs.

DOT representatives said the final design for the project should be completed by winter 2001, with construction to begin in fall 2002 and be completed in spring 2003.

The work would be fully funded by the federal government. State transportation officials said they must make significant improvements in accordance with federal guidelines in order to obtain the funding.

Borough officials said they realize the state can go ahead with the project, but are hopeful that DOT officials will heed their concerns, as well as those of residents living near the intersection.

"We do not believe this loss of property and trees is necessary," said council President Michael Toubin. "We don’t think the state’s plan would help that much with the traffic problem. We think there can be a more economical solution to the traffic problem that would not result in the loss of all that property and those 100-year-old trees. For example, left-turn arrows for those motorists turning left off of South Street could be installed at the intersection."

The report prepared by Abbington Associates concluded that the proposed improvements would have a significant impact on residences along Route 79; that the proposed improvements are not necessitated by safety-related problems; and that the improvements will not significantly improve the traffic flow at the intersection.

The borough’s engineer compiled an accident report for the intersection covering 1998, 1999 and half of 2000. For that time period there were 31 accidents, nine involving left turns, at the intersection. The report concluded these accidents do not indicate the need to provide left turn lanes, as proposed by the state at the intersection, and would require the acquisition of property.

About 10 years ago, some residents from South Street, mostly owning houses between Park and Helen avenues, appeared before the borough Planning Board. The residents requested that the board recommend to the council the possibility of rezoning that stretch from residential to some kind of professional or commercial use.

The residents claimed a rezoning would help protect the value of their properties and make them easier to sell. No action was taken at the time of the request.

This year, in conjunction with the announcement of the DOT’s plans for the Park Avenue-South Street intersection, residents have asked borough officials to revisit the zoning issue.