Upcoming Road Projects Discussed in Detail at Boro Meeting

Street narrowing and drainage issues were the main conversation topics as residents gathered at a meeting Thursday night at regarding construction projects set to take place on Pine, Beech, Rose and Cedar avenues.

Borough engineer Bob Vogel, who led the conversation, said the purpose of the meeting was to get public input on an informal basis from the residents who will be affected by the construction, and give them the opportunity to take a look at the construction plans.

“The governing body told us several years ago that, for projects in the realm of a half-million dollars such as this one, ought to have an informal public process associated with it,” Vogel said.

The borough has appropriated $539,000 for the projects.

The engineer explained that the construction would end up servicing about 4,000 feet of road – about 1,000 feet for each avenue.

Vogel said the entire project should be completed in no more than three months; he said bidding and awarding usually dominates the first month and that the actual construction will take place during the final two months.

Prior to discussion, Vogel assured residents of the four streets that, although it takes a little bit of time for grass to grow back and for everybody to adapt to the changes, there will definitely be an improvement in the look and functionality of the streets.

“It’s a little easier that we’re doing a whole section of a community at one time,” he said. “Madison’s been very good about following through with a lot of its programs for upgrading entire communities instead of one road in a community.

“You’re going to find that there will be tremendous upgrades to your streets once the contractor leaves town.”

One facet that Vogel said would not be part of the process, though, is sidewalk construction, a point Pine Avenue resident Liza Saunders contested.

Saunders’ main argument was that students coming from Fairleigh Dickinson University are zooming around the neighborhood while residents walk to town and children play in the streets.

“All of these children are trying to play in the streets and, as parents, we’re constantly trying to keep them safe,” Saunders said. “Right where Fairleigh Dickinson is, it’s like ‘The Fast and the Furious.’  Everyone’s going 50 to 60 miles an hour.”

To properly field all questions, Vogel treated each street as a separate conversation.

Cedar Avenue

One of the major points of discussion regarding Cedar Avenue construction was the narrowing of the street, which has two-way circulation and parking on both sides, to 32 feet wide from the current 36-foot width. Therefore, the road will lose two feet on each side.

Although some Cedar Avenue residents were wary that the current 36 feet of road are not wide enough, the main point of concern was the intersection of Cedar and Beech, where multiple people said bottlenecking sometimes occurs due to the hard left turn.

“What we did on the plan is instead of making it a hard left-hand turn, we are going to increase the outside radius of that turn so that drivers will perceive the turn better than they currently perceive it,” Vogel said. “I know there’s a driveway there that will be affected, but I’ve been able to resolve similar driveway issues in various other areas of the town rather easily.”

David J. Lloyd, who has lived at that corner house at 24 Cedar Avenue for 30 years, was present at the meeting and said he agree with other residents’ comments that it is necessary for cars to stop at that intersection so that they don’t risk hitting each other.

“When I’m coming out of my driveway, I’m very careful,” Lloyd said. “I’ve obviously noticed over 30 years that many cars have to stop as they turn. I don’t know what the problem is exactly, but if they’re not careful, the cars are going to hit each other.”

Some neighborhood residents said trucks and other cars parked too close to that intersection might be the culprit.

Although he reassured that 32 feet of pavement should be enough space for both two-way driving and parking on both sides, Vogel promised residents that he would look at the road width again and see if circulation can be maintained while normal-sized vehicles are parked on both sides.

“Normally, a wide-circulation aisle is 24 feet for a two-way street,” he said. “So if you have 32 feet, you have an extra eight feet. So a car should certainly be able to park on one side or the other without obstructing traffic.”

In response to suggestions about rumble strips and speed bumps prior to the intersection, Vogel said he generally does not like them in residential area because they “will keep you up all night long.” Instead, he said he usually suggests lane narrowing, as well as signage and road striping, because it makes less noise and doesn’t require general maintenance while still achieving the same desired effect.

Vogel also said stop signs will be placed at every intersection within that four-street neighborhood.

Mayor Mary-Anna Holden also suggested that stalkers, which are the automated sign boards that tell drivers how fast they are going, can be used for enforcement purposes.

Beech Avenue

Similar to the plans for Cedar, Vogel is proposing to cut down the width of the road on Beech Avenue, this time from 30 to 28 feet.

Answering Beech Avenue resident Lila Tarajkowski’s query as to the reasoning behind narrowing this road, Vogel said the trees that line the street are the main concern.

Since many of the trees are close to the curb, he said they often get hacked to pieces, making it difficult to keep them alive.

“This plan increases the survivability of these trees,” Vogel said, “and I’d kind of like to keep these trees where they are.”

However, Tarajkowski was still concerned that narrowing Beech, another street where cars are often parked on both sides throughout the day and on the weekends, would increase traffic problems.

She also inquired about the leaves that pile up in the street in the fall and the likelihood of a massive snowfall similar to the one experienced this past winter.

“I know when I backed out of my driveway this winter, I was consistently getting snow piled behind me,” Tarajkowski said. “If you narrow that’s where the snow would have rested. Now it’s going to be pushed in.”

Vogel said he is hopeful that there will be less snow in the future, but told Tarajkowski, as well as the various other Beech Avenue residents who were present, that he would personally come out and take a look at any potential driveway problems.

Beech Avenue is one of the streets for which there are no planned drainage improvements. Vogel said the reasoning is that the slope of the road is ample enough to get all of the water down to the intersections and not have any significant water-gathering problems in front of individual properties.

“My feeling is that it didn’t make sense for us at this time to put in the extra 500 to 600 feet of drainage to eliminate any small ponding issues,” he said.

However, Vogel did say he would take a look at any properties that did seem to have significant amounts of water gathering in front of them.

Pine Avenue

Drainage will be the major improvement being made to Pine Avenue, with eight new inlets being added, which includes two three-foot catch basins that will be replacing the single one-foot square basin that Vogel said is “not doing anything there at this stage of the game.”

Some residents suggested different locations for drains, while others brought more property-specific issues to the table.

Pamela Francis, who lives at 30 Pine Avenue, said her neighbor has a pipe that empties water into the street every couple of hours, causing “an enormous ice rink” in the winter.

“That’s a really big safety risk,” Francis said. “We can’t really get up the driveway with our cars.”

Vogel said the grading of the road should help, though not solve the problem. However, he said he would talk to the property owner, possibly suggesting a dry well be installed.

Rose Avenue

Drainage was also the main issue for Rose Avenue.

Although she owns a house on Pine Avenue and reported a decent amount of water collection in front of her property, Marcia Postallion said her big issue is poor drainage on Rose Avenue.

“I have massive amounts of water coming down my backyard from Rose,” Postallion said. “At this point, corners of my house and my garage have been wet since April.”

However, Vogel said there are no plans to improve drainage on Rose, a problem Postallion said has already cost her and various neighbors great personal expense already.

“We have all made inadequate improvements to our own properties trying to divert the water,” she said.