Starting Monday, You Can Drive On The Rt. 1 Shoulder

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ — Do you commute on Rt. 1 through South Brunswick? Then here's some good news: Starting tomorrow morning, Monday June 26, drivers can travel on the shoulder of Rt. 1 for a 1.9-mile stretch through South Brunswick Township. It's a practice known as hard shoulder running, and it was requested by South Brunswick to relieve congestion in their area.

After talking with South Brunswick officials, the New Jersey Department of Transportation agreed to do a pilot project by opening up the shoulder on Rt. 1 from Independence Way to Raymond Road. The shoulder is only open during the morning and afternoon rush hour: Cars will be allowed to drive on the shoulder between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. Trucks are not permitted to drive on the shoulder, and will be ticketed if they do so.

The shoulder will be open this way for the next six months. If the project is successful, the NJ DOT will consider making this a permanent improvement.

Although widely used in Europe, hard shoulder running is uncommon in the U.S., but is growing in popularity. The Dept. of Transportation has been using hard shoulder running successfully on Rt. 29 northbound approaching the Rt. 129 interchange in Trenton for several years.

The new changes apply for both Rt. 1 north- and southbound. Before and after this 1.9-mile stretch of the roadway, Rt. 1 is three lanes. However, it merges down into two lanes in South Brunswick, causing a bottleneck and huge traffic delays, South Brunswick police said.

To prepare, the DOT paved a quarter mile section of the Rt. 1 northbound shoulder from mile post 14.2 to mile post 14.5 and restriped Route 1 from Independence Way to Raymond Road to provide for 12-foot wide travel lanes and a minimum 1-foot wide inner shoulder. Signage was also installed along Rt. 1 and at each driveway, changing yield signs to stop signs. In addition, the DOT installed closed-circuit TV cameras on utility poles along the project corridor so the shoulder can be monitored on a continual basis by South Brunswick police. Remember: The shoulder is only open during the morning and afternoon rush hour.

Image: Morguefile