Council cans plan to send traffic into shopping plaza
BY VICTORIA HURLEY-SCHUBERT
Staff Writer

MARLBORO - Citing safety concerns, the Township Council last week rejected a state Department of Transportation plan to direct traffic through the Marlboro Plaza shopping center from Route 9 north to Route 520.

In an effort to alleviate problems at the intersection of Route 9 and Route 520, the DOT sought to steer drivers who are trying to reach Route 520 west or make a U-turn to Route 9 south into the shopping center parking lot between McDonald's and the Bank of America with a roundabout, said Sgt. Joseph M. Lenge of the Marlboro Police Department's Traffic Safety Unit.

Traffic would then funnel out of the shopping plaza via Kenduck Drive and onto Route 520, he said.

"The roundabout would improve safety by improving yielding conditions," said DOT spokeswoman Erin Phalon.

A roundabout is a junction where traffic flows around a central island after yielding to circulating traffic, she said. Vehicles entering a roundabout yield to flowing traffic; whereas a traffic circle has some sort of flow control like a stop sign or a light, which gives priority to vehicles entering the circle.

As far as locating a roundabout in the Marlboro Plaza, Phalon said, "Shopping centers are sometimes high volume traffic destinations and affect the operation of nearby intersections."

Lenge said, "Personally, I didn't believe the roundabout would handle the volume of traffic and it wasn't a safe idea. It wasn't safe to mix the two types of traffic (people using the shopping center and regular Route 9 traffic)."

The shorter jughandle currently at the intersection of Route 9 north and Route 520 is often a problem for drivers.

"It's hard to make a left turn (onto Route 520) when you get to the stop sign at the end of the exit ramp; there's five lanes of traffic you have to get yourself into in order to go west on Route 520," said Lenge.

The location is one of the 10 most accident-prone intersections in the area, Mayor Robert Kleinberg said.

"People stop and they tap into the backs of other people's cars, and it's reported as an accident," he said.

The DOT presented three plans for the intersection several years ago and after a public process, a plan that looped traffic around an Exxon gas station at the corner of Route 9 and Route 520 was selected, said Kleinberg. Last year the DOT offered a fourth plan that sent traffic through the Pathmark shopping center with a deceleration lane off Route 9 north.

"How could it be safer to take traffic off the highway and into a shopping center?" Kleinberg said of the fourth plan offered by the DOT for the intersection.

Ideally, police would like to funnel traffic onto Route 520 west with a reverse jughandle around the Exxon gas station, but existing businesses pose a problem with land acquisition, Lenge said.

"There's a lot involved with that," he said.

In other business at the April 12 meeting, the council introduced an ordinance to add a multiway stop intersection at Texas and Spring Valley roads.

"We're going to add a stop sign on Spring Valley now," said Lenge.

Currently, there are stop signs for drivers on Texas Road.

Spring Valley Road has a slight hill that prohibits a clear view when stopped on Texas Road and the alignment of the roads is also an issue for drivers, Lenge said.

The ordinance has been sent to the DOT for approval, the sergeant said. It is expected to be considered for passage at the next council meeting on April 26 at the Greenbriar North adult community clubhouse.