Caldwell Intersection Plan Has Some at a Crossroads

Ann Dassing enjoys walking or jogging along Bloomfield Avenue a few times a week, but the Caldwell council president is a bit apprehensive of running along a highway.

Dassing opposed last week a resolution to authorize Essex County's summer-long project to revamp the intersection of Bloomfield and Roseland avenues that will eliminate approximately 16 parking spaces to establish left-turn only lanes on Bloomfield Avenue—an addition she believes that will create a speed zone in the area of the Caldwell Green.

"I just feel like we could have done more to make it more pedestrian friendly. I understand the county's concern with the intersection's safety, but the loss of parking is a real issue in my mind," Dassing said.

"I just felt by us doing this it would turn that area into a highway. If you turn that area into six lanes, people are just going to go faster. I thought losing the parking in front of the library was a real issue. You're losing this green, peaceful area when you're going to have cars and buses flying by."

Dassing isn't alone. Alan Schindler, a member of Project Main Street, a Caldwell Downtown Alliance volunteer initiative "to preserve, protect and nurture the economic and cultural vitality of downtown Caldwell," said the redesign of the intersection will provide another setback in establishing a pedestrian-friendly community.

"We were alarmed because of the principals of what we believe in to create this pedestrian-friendly downtown, and all the research we've done, says that you need this buffer zone between people—the parked cars are the buffer zone—and the cars traveling on the road," he said.

"Part of the problem here is that no one wants to come downtown. So no matter what you do, it's so unfriendly. It's so unsafe to get out of your car. It's not a pedestrian-friendly town."

According to Phil LiVecchi, Essex County's director of public works, the federally-funded project will establish safer conditions for pedestrians at the corners of Bloomfield and Roseland avenues as well as Westville and Roseland avenues where a traffic signal will be installed.

In addition, the creation of left-turn lanes eastbound on Bloomfield Avenue onto Forest Avenue and westbound onto Roseland Avenue will help eliminate traffic congestion that often blocks the intersections, LiVecchi told Caldwell's governing body in March.

"I think what they're planning for Westville Avenue is a good fix. But for the amount of traffic that backs up on Bloomfield Avenue in the morning and in the afternoon, and I think it's really just during the school year when Trinity Academy starts and lets out. You're talking about 10 months out of the year. To disrupt everything else, just didn't seem right to me. It didn't seem worth it," Dassing said.

"I didn't think there was any room for dialogue to make it more pedestrian friendly. I'm on Bloomfield Avenue three or four times a week as a pedestrian. I walk through town. I run. If we start to acquiesce to the automobile, we'll never get the downtown that we want."

The project, which was passed by Caldwell's council by a 5-to-1 vote last week, is expected to get underway early this summer and will coincide with PSE&G's plan to replace gas piping on Roseland Avenue as well as the county's paving of Bloomfield Avenue from Newark all the way to Route 46.

Another concern was a resolution that was passed by members of Caldwell's council several years ago that agreed to pay overtime for borough police to conduct traffic safety during the intersection construction.

However, Councilman Joseph Norton said last week he recently met with county officials and the cost will now be paid through federal grant money.

The project, which will also add a center island of trees and shrubs on Bloomfield Avenue, will include: 

• The addition of a traffic signal to Westville Avenue at the corner of Roseland Avenue.
• The stoppage area for the Roseland Avenue traffic light at the corner of Bloomfield Avenue will be pushed back 70 feet to the area in front of the parking facility for the Caldwell Community Center.
• A cautionary blinking light will be added to Roseland Avenue south of the Caldwell Fire Department that will stop traffic when fire vehicles are exiting the station.
• Left-hand turn only lanes will be added to Bloomfield Avenue westbound at the corner of Roseland Avenue and eastbound at the corner of Forest Avenue. These lanes will result in a reduction of 16 parking spaces eastbound in front of the Caldwell Green and westbound from Nicco's deli to Stephanie's restaurant. However, four new spaces will be added in other areas of Bloomfield Avenue.
• Pedestrian countdown signals will be added as well as improvements to better define the crosswalks in this area.
• The installation of traffic cameras at these intersections to adjust the light signal according to the amount of vehicle volume.

However, Schindler doesn't see many additional safety benefits in the plan. Instead, there are just more obstacles, he said.

"Phil LiVecchi presented it as a pedestrian-friendly plan. But if you really analyze it, there's really nothing new in that plan besides the countdown crosswalk that's for pedestrians. The crosswalks are there already. The countdown is the only addition to Bloomfield Avenue," Schindler said.

"It didn't address slowing cars down, and in fact, research shows that when you widen the roads and go from four lanes to six lanes, cars are going to go through quicker. Unless you do something to counter that, now you're going to have faster-moving cars right next to the curb. This is a complete disaster when you envision Caldwell as a village."

According to Dassing, the project places too much of an emphasis on benefiting those who use the area as a corridor between Interstate 280 and their workplace, and not enough consideration for borough residents and business owners.

"It's not good for the store owners," she said. "It's not good for business to have people drive through the area even faster so people from out of town can get to 280 faster when they get out of work. I don't care about that. I care about the people of this town and that they're safe when walking downtown."