DOT: Route 22 Upgrades Will Improve Traffic Flow

Changes to Route 22 in Green Brook will be relatively minor in the state Department of Transportation’s plan to improve traffic flow on the highway between Route 287 in Bridgewater and Mountainside.

The project, which is scheduled to start this fall and be completed by spring 2014, will integrate 18 traffic signals on the 14-mile stretch of highway into one system. Seven intersections will also be improved to improve traffic flow, according to the DOT.

Six television cameras will be installed to allow monitoring at the Statewide Traffic Management Center in Woodbridge. Two message signs will also be installed to inform motorists about delays.

According to the DOT, many of the improvements and installation of electronic equipment will be performed outside the travel lanes on Route 22 so there would be minimal disruption during normal business times. However, detours will be implemented as improvements are made to jughandle ramps; those detours, the DOT said, will be limited to the hours between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m.

In Green Brook, the scope of the project will be minor, Brian Mausert, a civil engineer with Greenman-Pedersen, which is overseeing the project, told the Township Committee on Monday evening.

Route 22 has five intersections in Green Brook—Sebrings Mills Road, Cramer Avenue, Warrenville Road, Washington Avenue and Rock Avenue. The traffic signals at all the intersections will be re-designed, Mausert said. 

The westbound ramps from Route 22 to Sebring Mills Road and Warrenville Road will be widened to two lanes. A lane will be also be added to northbound Warrenville Road at the intersection, Mausert said.

The addition of the lane on Warrenville Road may cause potential problems for cars leaving the 7-Eleven at the intersection, Police Chief Martin Rasmussen said.

“We don’t want people coming out of there and making a left,” the chief said, adding that left turns from the parking lot may have to be prohibited.

Rasmussen also said that the construction of a new bridge over the Green Brook, as part of the Green Brook Flood Control Project, should be considered in the design of any changes with the Sebrings Mills intersection.

The Army Corps of Engineers is raising the bridge six feet. That will create a “very dramatic” change in elevation between the eastbound Route 22 off-ramp, the Greenbrook Road intersection and the bridge, Rasmussen said.

The Route 22 improvements are designed to improve travel time on the highway by 20 percent, Mausert said.

The township is also negotiating with American Traffic Solutions of Scottsdale, Ariz. to install cameras at the Warrenville Road and Washington Avenue intersections to catch motorists who run a red light.

Cameras continuously operating at the intersection will photograph all motorists at the intersections. The firm’s software will flag drivers who go through a red light, then send those images to the Green Brook Police Department where officers will review them and decide whether to issue tickets, Rasmussen said.

That project still requires DOT approval.