Resident 'Fed Up' With Ridge Traffic Plans Run for Committee

Editor's note: Resident Bill Connors weighs in on a proposal to install a new driveway off South Finley Avenue designed to better improve traffic flow at Ridge High School at 268 S. Finley Ave. in Basking Ridge, and says he would like to run as a write-in candidate for Bernards Township Committee to offer an alternative.

To the Editor: 

Are you as fed up as I am?

I am writing this letter as a resident of South Finley Ave for the last 15 years. I live at 265 South Finley Ave,, directly across from the Bernards Township Health Department. In 2012 the Bernards Township Board of Education (BOE) and the Bernards Township Committee (TC) got together and formed a Joint Task Force (JTF) to review and recommend changes to the Ridge High School (RHS) traffic pattern in order to ensure safety at RHS during the morning drop off.

Over the past 15 years, I have watched and been impacted by the numerous attempts and significant money spent trying to reduce congestion on South Finley while also providing for increased access to RHS. Unfortunately, it seems most, if not all of those attempts, have not succeeded. It is my opinion that the most recent attempt by the BOE and TC to “fix” the safety problem at RHS will only result in making traffic problems on South Finley and Lake Road WORSE.

The JTF and BOE hide behind their objective of finding a solution to the safety problems on RHS campus. However, the TC has nowhere to hide. The TC has a duty and an obligation to make decisions that are best for the overall community. By passing a resolution to support the JTF solution, the TC has voted to make traffic WORSE on South Finley and Lake Road. To state it bluntly, I am fed up with the continued inability of our elected officials to get to the correct answer on this issue.

Just in case my position on this topic is not clear, my opinion and belief is that the school buses need to return to the RHS campus ASAP and the Municipal Complex (MC) driveway should be made into an official secondary entrance to the RHS ASAP. The municipal complex drive would initially be used for incoming traffic to the RHS. Trials can be run to determine if it is more efficient and safer to have only buses utilize the MC drive or possibly allowing only those cars that are parking on RHS campus to utilize the MC drive. These trials will also allow for fact gathering (rather than mere opinions) related to police car movement and the new MC traffic pattern to determine if any negative side effects occur.

The Municipal Complex is a property owned by the community and such property should be utilized to serve all community purposes. I also believe a longer term solution (if required) may be available via South Maple and the Township Engineering office. I know members of the TC are quick to cite cost and gradation issues, but, I have never seen any facts, only opinions to suggest this option is unworkable. To the contrary, one can visit our local St. James Church and experience first hand an exit drive from an elevated parking lot down to South Maple Avenue that is used to alleviate congestion.  

TRAFFIC WILL GET WORSE ON SOUTH FINLEY AVENUE AND LAKE ROAD

Let me quickly explain how you will be impacted by the JTF Option 9 supported by our TC and BOE if you travel on or near South Finley Avenue or Lake Road during the hours of 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. The conclusions below are based on significant hours researching and reviewing traffic studies performed by Somerset County as well as Dolan & Dean. Surprisingly, it is my understanding and belief that the TC did not review any Somerset County traffic studies before voting to approve the JTF option. How the TC could vote to approve a resolution which impacts so many people in the community without having reviewed all available information seems strange doesn’t it? I am happy to share the numbers justifying the conclusions with anyone interested. Please contact me if you would like them.

• If you travel north on South Finley between the Lyons train station and RHS, you will now have the joy of experiencing longer wait times and more congestion courtesy of the JTF option supported by the TC. The timing of the South Finley/Lake Road light will need to be adjusted for the new, less efficient traffic pattern which will cause longer wait times and increased congestion along South Finley Avenue.
• If you previously traveled east on Lake Road in order to access RHS or South Finley north or south bound, you too will have the joy of longer wait times and increased congestion courtesy of our elected officials. There will be an 88% increase in the number of vehicles turning left at the light. For reference, turning left at a light is the least efficient (meaning most time consuming) and most hazardous traffic pattern employed. It is the least efficient traffic pattern because it requires that the left turning vehicles be permitted to turn while all other vehicular traffic is stopped. In order to try and accommodate this higher volume of left turning vehicles, the timing of the traffic light will need to change.
• If you previously traveled through the South Finley/Lake Road traffic light during the hours of 7 a.m. to 8 a.m., make sure you have your insurance paid up because you are now at a higher risk of getting in an accident. This is due to the increase in the volume of cars utilizing the light and more importantly, due to the increased use of the more hazardous left turn pattern.
• If you currently travel west on Cross Street in order to access South Finley northbound or southbound, you are in luck as well! Your commute will get longer due to the increased congestion and longer wait times at the South Finley/Lake Road traffic light. The timing of the traffic light at the intersection of South Finley/Cross Street/Train Station will most likely need to be adjusted to accommodate the back up in traffic caused by the expected timing changes at the South Finley/Lake Road light.
• If you previously used the Health Department to exit RHS after dropping off your child to travel north on South Finley you will no longer be able to do so; 138 cars typically exit via this route every morning. These 138 cars will now need to exit via the traffic light, representing a 59% increase in traffic exiting via the light. Numerous studies reach the obvious conclusion that increased traffic at traffic lights leads to increased accidents.
• There are approximately 75 cars that currently travel from the north end of town and turn left at the traffic light to enter the RHS campus to park. These 75 cars will no longer be allowed to enter RHS via the traffic light. The JTF option will require these 75 cars to figure out a way to either get to Lake Road or South Finley Ave south of the South Finley/Lake Road traffic light. You have to get south of the traffic light so that you can wait in traffic before proceeding through the traffic light north on South Finley to make the right turn into campus. Isn’t that fantastic! If you are coming from the north side of town, you now get the pleasure of an extended wait at the South Finley/Lake Road traffic light, courtesy of the BOE and the TC.

It seems clear to me based on the conclusions above that the JTF option voted on and approved by the TC and BOE would increase traffic, increase accident potential, increase congestion and wait times and decrease safety at the Lake Road/South Finley traffic light. Why does this bother me? Why am I fed up? Why should you be fed up?

Our elected officials of the Township Committee had a choice when they voted on the JTF option. The choice was simple.

• The TC could choose to do what seemed to be clearly desired by the voters; utilize community property (the Municipal Complex) to solve a community problem while increasing safety and reducing traffic congestion for all traveling on our local roads.

Or

• The TC could choose to ignore what the community clearly supported and take a short sighted view while reducing safety and increasing traffic congestion and accident potential on our most used roadways.

True to form for most elected officials these days, the TC ignored the community opinion and voted to increase traffic congestion and accident potential. Of course, the TC will disagree and cite that Option 9 meets the JTF’s objective for increased safety on the RHS campus (although no empirical facts have been presented to support the conclusion). However, the facts that are quite clear conclude that Option 9 reduces safety and increases traffic congestion on our community roadways.

What is not clear, is why the TC is so adamant about not using the MC driveway. Several TC members stated that the MC was “not an option” even though the JTF was supposed to be reviewing all options. Does that make any sense? In addition, there have been comments about stone pillars being too close together, bus axles being too wide, missing side walks, emergency vehicles and various “what if” scenarios, and I think there was actually a strange comment that the buses would not be able to navigate the “steeply sloping winding drive”.  When is enough, enough? The MC seems to offer the least costly and probably most timely solution given the existing stone gravel drive connecting the MC to the RHS parking lots. Yet the TC emphatically tells us, “no, not an option.”

So where does this leave all of us, the Bernard Township voters? Well, as I said, I am fed up. I am tired of presenting my opinion to the Township Committee in the allotted 5-minute public discussion period only to be pleasantly dismissed and disregarded. I am tired of being told the Municipal Complex is not an option while never being given any empirical facts to support the point of view. I am tired of the BOE finding ways to waste our taxpayer money on pavement and parking lots instead of spending it on additional teacher’s salaries and education material. I am completely confused how the BOE could not address and provide a comprehensive solution to this issue when $54 million was spent to renovate RHS in 2006.

I am in bewilderment how the TC could approve countless variances associated with the RHS renovation and not request that a comprehensive solution to the traffic issue be provided. I am frustrated this issue has not been properly solved and we are on the fifth or sixth go-around. I am outright dumbfounded how the TC and BOE can arrive at the current proposed solution which is almost exactly opposite of the previous solution implemented several years ago.

To be quite honest, I am at the end of my rope. I have presented a number of alternative options to the JTF, the BOE and the TC. I have made comments and suggestions at countless TC and BOE meetings. I have reviewed traffic studies and survey maps. I am done complaining. It is time to do something. If you are as fed up as I am then I have a proposal for you.

Let’s use the coming November election of a new Township Committee member as a referendum on this traffic issue. Let’s prove to the TC that, we the community, the voters, believe they have made the wrong decision.

Believe me, I know the drill. None of us have any extra time to do anything, let alone politics. We are all running around doing multiple things at the same time while thinking about all of the other things that need to be done as well as all of the things we forgot to do, while texting someone about what you wish you were doing. I guess I have reached that point in this process where they say if you aren’t part of the solution, you must be part of the problem. I believe that at this point, the only way to get the TC to actually listen to what the voters want and make decisions accordingly is to get on the Committee and start having a vote and trying to make an impact.  

If you are as tired and frustrated and fed up as me as it relates to this “traffic issue” or any issue where the solution seems so obvious to the community but the TC never seems to implement it, then let’s make it clear to the TC. If enough people feel the same way then we can do something about it.

I have looked into what it takes to run in the Bernards Township Committee election this November. Apparently there was a deadline to petition to run as a Republican, or a Democrat but that has come and gone. However, you can still run in the November general election as an Independent as long as you obtain 92 signatures of voters prior to the June 4 primary date.

I have convinced myself and I think I may have my beautiful wife on board (the beautiful comment may have finally swayed her), that if enough people agree with this point of view then I should give it a go and try to get elected. So that leaves me 90 signatures short and about 2 weeks. The easiest way to try and do this is to email me at billconnors.fedup@gmail.com if you agree and you want to sign the petition. If enough people are as frustrated as me, then maybe we can finally do something about it.   

Respectfully,

Bill Connors

South Finley Ave.

Basking Ridge