Schools

Ridge Traffic Task Force to Issue Online & Public Reports

Updated: Ridge Task Force sets dates for issuing online report on Monday and for a second public input session following week.

Following months of meeting, discussing and dissecting options for how to best alleviate morning traffic jams at a special appointed task force is ready to issue its findings.

In updated information, Schools Superintendent Nick Markarian said in a special Friday Folder email to parents that the online report is expected to be issued on Monday.

Markarian's email also said that the second public input session on the task force findings is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Monday, March 25, at the municipal building at 1 Collyer Lane in Basking Ridge.

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After meeting again on Wednesday, Bernards Mayor Carolyn Gaziano said that the task force, made up of township and school district officials, likely will put up its report either next Monday or Tuesday on both the Bernards Township website and the Bernards school district website.

The task force then will hold a second public input session to accept public comments and questions on the report, she said at Tuesday night's Bernards Township Committee meeting.

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The task force, formed last fall, went through "basically, everything," as far as examining options for improving traffic flow at the school, Gaziano said.

The report explains the task force member's reasoning for ideas eliminated, she said. She said the task force is leaning toward one of the options, "But we want the public's input first."

Even after multiple meetings — including an initial session asking for public input last December — the task force members still are submitting emails on the report to Schools Superintentent Nick Markarian, who is drawing up the report, Gaziano said. Township Engineer Tom Timko also is finishing up drawings that will be part of the reports, according to the mayor.

Multiple suggestions have been made for reducing traffic jams heading into the school. Some of the options discussed have included creating a new entrance; diverting school buses to a separate dropoff area; limiting private vehicle access while buses are arriving; and allowing traffic to enter the back parking lots from the municipal complex, via a one-way entrance that would be closed off after the morning arrival time.


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