Hank Kalet

Dispatches is up and ready. It’s on those odd little anti-speeding signs that have cropped up around the area.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

The state is finally coming to the realization that something needs to be done to Route 1. While it acknowledges the need to widen the road, it also views the aggregation of traffic lights as a significant problem.

Travel south on the highway and you can get a glimpse of what probably needs to be done. There are no traffic lights in Plainsboro and the handful that are left in West Windsor will be replaced when they eventually complete the Millstone By-pass.

In South Brunswick, we could stand to lose a couple of lights and close off a few openings.

The township should encourage the state to close Henderson Road and make it a right-turn only intersection, encouraging traffic to use Finnegans Lane. This would take some traffic off both Henderson and Route 1. Also overpasses are needed at Beekman and Route 522.

New and Sand Hills/Major are more of an issue — how you close those interesections or install overpasses is a huge question. We may need to leave one or both as lighted intersections.

The state, however, should not wait to widen the road. Widen it now and, if it can be arranged, work on the intersections later. It may coast more in the long run, but drivers in South Brunswick can not wait for the state to decide what to do with the intersections.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

Damien Newton of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign reminds me in an e-mail that there is no money on the table for Route 92 (remember the Turnpike moved the cash designated for the road to its far-more-important widening project).

“With all the money they’re spending on the Turnpike and Parkway widenings (roughly 150 more lane miles) it won’t be happening in time for any of the traffic projections to be worth the
papery their printed on.”

A very good point.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

Huh? This news item from Wisconsin can’t be serious:

Frank Lasee (R-Green Bay) announced Wednesday that he plans to introduce legislation early next year that would give teachers and other school personnel the option of carrying concealed weapons. The action was largely prompted by the school shootings in Colorado, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where Weston Schools principal was killed last week.

Makes me glad to live on the East Coast.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

Looks like the final Environmental Impact Statement for Route 92 is out. Army Corps, if my quick review is correct, makes no recommendation but seems to offer information favorable to supporters. I need more time with this monstrosity before I can comment fully, but these things need to remain a part of this discussion:

• Cost. The pricetag had been placed at $350 million or so, but let’s face it, that estimate is a good decade old and $700 million or more would proably not be out of the question.
• The Army Corps’ historic role as supporter of building projects (the Corps has always acted as though it could engineer itself out of any problem)
• Route 522 was included, but not in its longer form. The road is about to be extended to Route 535 and is likely to have a far different impact on traffic than the EIS envisions.
• The project’s scope and goals were set by the Turnpike, meaning that the platform on which the argument is based will naturally favor the Turnpike.

I’m sure there is more to say, but I need a chance to read this thing when I’m done getting The Cranbury Press out the door.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick