Warren to Study Mount Bethel Road Traffic

The Township Committee last week agreed to work with Somerset County on a study of the traffic in the Mount Bethel Road corridor.

The road leads from the center of the township to Exit 36 on Route 78 and provides a direct conduit into Warren for workers heading to and from their jobs in area towns. The road is lined with offices, businesses, shopping centers and homes and in spots is a narrow roadway. The highway exit makes the road attractive for new development.

Township zoning officer John Chadwick said Warren is in the middle of the only route for vehicles to get from Route 78, north of Warren, to Route 22, south of Warren.

Mayor Victor Sordillo said he attended a meeting with county officials to discuss a traffic study for the corridor.

He said that the township needs factual overall data about the traffic on the road because what he mostly sees are traffic studies attached to proposed developments that “just seem to be a bit rosy” in their descriptions of minimal traffic impact and how it would be handled.

Sordillo said he is also seeking an answer to the traffic issues because of a recent double fatal car accident at Exit 33 on Route 78 caused in part by cars lined up along the highway waiting to exit..

“It is not a good thing to have traffic queuing up on an interstate highway,” he said.

Sordillo said the township is seeking concrete data on the traffic impact that can lead to solutions and safer roads.

Chadwick said the county has better data than the township can generate, although they did not appear to have an origination and destination study that would give clues to where the traffic comes from and where it in headed daily.

Chadwick said Mount Bethel “is a true traffic corridor” much like Manville, where vehicles exit Route 287 to local streets. He said “double left” turns were created at key intersections,  which provided immediate relief to the traffic jams. He said an effort to synchronize the traffic signals on Mount Bethel, which can speed up the flow of traffic during peak hours, would be a place to start.