Fate of Bergen St. Traffic Lines to be Decided Tuesday

When they meet tomorrow (Tuesday, Nov. 1), members of Lawrence Township Council are expected to decide the fate of the travel lane striping and other new traffic markings painted on the recently-repaved section of Bergen Street.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the municipal building at 2207 Lawrence Rd. (Route 206).

The Bergen Street debate has raged since about the new markings and demanded they be removed.

The new markings – a double yellow line painted down the center of Bergen Street, white lines denoting wide shoulders on both sides of the road, pedestrian crosswalks and other lines and signage – are the result of the Complete Streets policy the township adopted last year as modeled on the national Complete Streets initiative. One of the goals of the Complete Streets program is to make roadways safer for pedestrians and bicyclists.

As happened during the – with about half speaking out against the new lines and the others voicing support for the new markings and the Complete Streets policy – council’s last meeting on Oct. 18 was dominated by another one hour and 15 minute discussion about Bergen Street.

(The entire discussion can be listened to in Part 1 of the meeting audio, available from the media box above.)

Several residents, all of whom had spoken at previous meetings, again demanded that the lines be removed and reiterated their claims that the new traffic markings have made Bergen Street unsafe and visually unappealing, jeopardizing both public safety and their homes’ property values.

They presented to council a petition containing signatures, they said, of over 50 neighborhood residents opposed to the markings. They also showed photographs of what they argued is proof the new markings are dangerous – such as parked cars not fitting within the white-lined shoulders and bicyclists venturing out of the shoulder into the main part of the road.

The lines give pedestrians and bicyclists “a false sense of security,” Nassau Drive resident Scott Bentivegna said. “People don’t belong on the street any more than cars belong on the sidewalk. If I were to suggest to council or to anybody here that cars should be able to share the sidewalk people would think I was an absolute idiot. But nobody seems to question the reverse. Here I have a picture of a pedestrian walking in the street… The pedestrian feels safe, protected by these white magic lines of the shoulder, from a car three feet away traveling 25 mph. The pedestrian refuses to use the sidewalk provided on both sides of the street….  The pedestrian could be on the sidewalk. Instead, he walks right next to the cars.”

But others who spoke in favor of the new markings noted that pedestrians and bicyclists were using Bergen Street long before the new lines were painted and that, as a public road, Bergen Street must be shared with joggers, bikers and others who choose not to operate automobiles.

“I am a cyclist and live very close to Bergen Street,” Ivy Glen Lane resident Dennis Waters told council. “I’m on Bergen Street as a cyclist many times every week. I can assure you that the situation with the new striping makes me, personally, speaking only for myself, much, much safer. Yes, there are obstacles on the shoulder but I know that if I’m on the right side of that line that I’m in much better shape. I’ve been riding on Bergen Street almost since it became a paved road all the way through – so that’s probably almost 20 years. Prior to the striping, automobiles, not knowing where they were supposed to be, were always a hazard. And now it’s clearly delineated and I think is much safer, speaking as a cyclist. In hindsight it would have been terrific if we could have all gone out and taken photographs of the various antics of drivers and cyclists and pedestrians in the pre-stripe days – and there were many of those. But we don’t have those. So all I can say is, from personal experience, it’s a much better situation than it was in the past.”

Supporters argued that many of the problems cited by opponents of the markings can be attributed to poor driving habits by those who use Bergen Street, from speeding to failing to yield to oncoming traffic when a parked car or yard debris on the side of the road sticks out beyond the shoulder.

Possibly lending support to the argument that the new markings are having a positive influence on driver behavior were statistics from a traffic survey conducted by township police that Township Manager Richard Krawczun shared with council during the Oct. 18 meeting.

Those statistics show that the average speed of the 8,134 vehicles that traveled Bergen Street between Wilk Court and Yeger Drive during a three-day period in October was 26 mph. By comparison, the average speed of the 8,787 vehicles that used Bergen Street between Lawrenceville-Pennington Road and Gordon Road over three days in 2009 was 30 mph.

Some at the meeting, however, questioned whether the 2009 data can be compared to the recent numbers because the precise location of where the 2009 traffic survey was conducted was not logged by the police department.

(Those traffic survey statistics, as well as information about the numbers of traffic citations issued by police and traffic accidents that occurred on Bergen Street from 2002 through October of this year can be found in the media box above.)

Krawczun also advised council that he and Township Engineer James Parvesse had obtained estimates for the three methods that could be used if council decides that the new markings should be removed. He said it would cost about $10,000 to either paint over the yellow and white lines with black paint or to physically grind away the lines. To use a jet of water to “hydroblast” the lines away would cost about $20,000, he said.

At the Oct. 4 meeting Krawczun cautioned that black paint would fade over time and eventually allow some of the yellow and white underneath to show through, while the grinding and “hydroblast” options would cause some damage to the asphalt and would show some “visual impact.” He said “hydroblasting” would likely cause less damage than grinding.

Krawczun also said during the Oct. 4 meeting that if the new markings are removed it is possible that the township would have to forfeit a portion of the it received to help pay for the of the section of Bergen Street between Lawrenceville-Pennington Road and Cold Soil Road.  

After being presented by Krawczun with the statistics from the police department, Mayor Greg Puliti encouraged council members to review the information and be prepared to make a decision on the fate of the Bergen Street markings at their next meeting (to be held tomorrow).

Puliti said he had not decided either way on the issue but suggested that such markings would look out of place on another road such as Gainsboro Road. “I would like to go over this data,” Puliti said.

Saying the “striping is not appropriate” for Bergen Street, Councilman Bob Bostock seemed to be in favor of removing the lines. “Some folks may feel safer by these lines. I’m not convinced they are,” he said.

Councilman Michael Powers said the job of the council is to make roads in town “as safe as possible” and said he believes the new markings on Bergen Street, including the shoulders, are a “cue to drivers to slow down and be safe.”

Bergen Street is a public road and as such is meant to “accommodate everyone, not just the people that live on that road,” Councilwoman Pam Mount said. “Certainly we have worked long and hard to make Lawrence Township a pedestrian-, bike- and car-friendly place. We’ve worked long and hard to get the trucks off [Route] 206, which has not happened. And we want to make sure trucks don’t go from 206 to Bergen Street…. It’s our job to use as much of the current thinking as possible to make this town as safe as possible for everybody, not just the riders in cars.”

Councilman Jim Kownacki said he planned to review the data from the police department to help make his decision. He noted that while the new markings are “very bright” right now they will dull over time and become less glaring. “I don’t know where I stand on making the decision about the striping yet but tonight’s information will help…. To me, public safety is important throughout the township – not just one street, but it’s the whole township,” he said.