Traffic takes center stage at hearing
Testimony continues on Hovbilt application for Jackson Valley
BY DAVE BENJAMIN
Staff Writer

A proposed new connector road that would join Cassville Road (Route 571) and Perrineville Road was the focus of the latest session of Hovbilt testimony before the Jackson Planning Board.

Hovbilt has proposed building Jackson Valley, a community of 965 age-restricted condominium homes in the Cassville section of Jackson.

Traffic engineer John Rea, representing the applicant, presented his testimony last week. In describing the scope of his studies, Rea said traffic counts have been made in the summer of 2005, the summer of 2006 and the fall of 2006.

Rea said the following intersections were examined: North Stump Tavern Road and South Stump Tavern Road at West Veterans Highway (Route 528); West Veterans Highway and Cassville Road; Thompson Bridge Road and Cassville Road; Freehold Road and the Rova Farms access at Route 571; the Perrineville Road intersection at Cassville Road; and the Anderson Road signalized intersection at Cassville Road, about 1 mile north of the Reed Road-Cassville Road intersection.

“We are proposing as a means of dealing with an existing deficiency at the five-way intersection near St. Vladimir’s Church to construct a new connector road between Perrineville and Cassville roads,” Rea said. “[The connector road] has basically been endorsed by the county and has been developed over a number of years of working with county professionals [and] previous township professionals. [It is a] way of eliminating the fifth leg of the intersection.”

When the connector road is constructed, traffic from Perrineville Road will come out through a signalized intersection at Cassville Road, Rea said.

“There should be no reason for these people to travel through to the intersection of Perrineville and Reed roads if they are going to the north. It will take them longer and it’s a bit out of their way,” he said.

Rea said the Reed and Cassville roads intersection will be a more through route.

He said there would be 584 homes in Section 1 of Jackson Valley which is nearest to the proposed connector road.

Board chairman Kenneth Bressi said, “You’re saying that everyone living in those 584 homes will have to come out of there and have no choice but to go [to the connector road].”

Rea said he did not see any value in assigning traffic to the north up to Reed Road and then back to Cassville Road and Reed Road.

Rea said there is a section of Perrineville Road that is not paved. He said people would not want to use that portion of the road. Cassville Road (Route 571) is a county road and is a 50 mph road and is built to a higher standard.

“If you weigh all the factors together, I think they would use the connector road to get to Route 571,” Rea said. “It would take them less time. It would be safer and more comfortable.”

Rea said he found the peak hours of traffic to be on weekdays between 7-9 a.m. and again between 4-7 p.m.

“It’s consistent with commuter traffic,” he explained. “People who live in Jackson in the area to the south use this corridor to get up to Interstate 195 in order to get into the Freehold area or wherever they work. The actual peak out [for this road] is from 7-8 a.m. and from 4:30-5:30 p.m. Those items are important to understand in terms of the impact that [Jackson Valley] will have on these roads.”

Rea said age-restricted or adult communities have distinct traffic patterns. He said he studied seven or eight such communities in the area and found them to have very specific traffic patterns.

“They generate 30 percent of the peak hour traffic [compared to] non-age restricted community generated traffic,” Rea said. “They are not [major] peak hour traffic generators.”

The traffic engineer said that after 9 a.m. traffic from the age-restricted communities increases and the residents generally return home before the evening rush hour.

Rea said the key issue is the spot where Thompson Bridge Road, the Rova Farms access at Route 571, Freehold Road, Perrineville Road and Cassville Road meet in front of St. Vladimir’s Church.

County and township engineers are concerned about this location, Rea said.

“By constructing the connector road it would give us the opportunity to eliminate the Perrineville Road intersection,” he told the board. “It would take the traffic to a more conventional signalized intersection about a half-mile north of the existing intersection.”

Rea noted there is still a problem with the intersection of Freehold Road and Route 571. County engineers are evaluating what can be done at that location, he reported.

Rea said there is a chance of a traffic signal being constructed at that location, but that will not be determined until after the Perrineville Road intersection is eliminated.

Board member Angelo Stallone said he is concerned with the unimproved portion of Perrineville Road. About 950 feet of Perrineville Road in a northerly direction is unpaved.

It was noted that Perrineville Road may end in a cul-de-sac if the proposed connector road between Cassville and Perrineville roads is built.

Rea said it is the desire of St. Vladimir’s Church to keep a presence and an access on Route 571 and not necessarily use a connector road.

“We want to limit the impact on the church and give them what they want and what they are comfortable with,” he said. “There will be some sketches coming to the township shortly that will show the different options, but we want to make the church happy first.”