[Hillsborough may finally be getting Rt. 206 bypass
New proposal would save money, be environmentally friendly and easier to build
BY PAMELA SROKA
GANNETT NEW JERSEY
Sunday, March 18, 2007
HILLSBOROUGH -- Like bypass surgery around clogged arteries to improve blood flow to the heart, the long-awaited Route 206 bypass is designed to improve the flow of traffic through the heart of Hillsborough.
After decades of planning and discussing -- among Somerset County, Hillsborough, Montgomery and state Department of Transportation officials -- representatives from all sides say a safer, less costly, smart-design embracing, environmentally friendly new project is expected to be unveiled to the public in coming weeks.
The proposed new design will be the subject of a March 26 meeting involving all parties at the Somerset County Fire Training Academy in Hillsborough. If the meeting is successful, the parties will finalize an agreement following the meeting, a state DOT representative said.
The bypass project is included in the state's $3.2 billion transportation capital plan. Total design cost of the four-lane bypass is $11,625,000, and total construction funding is $100,806,000. In 2008, funding was expected to total $21 million; in 2009, an expected $55 million; and in 2010, an expected $61 million.
The new design is expected to relocate the bypass' southern endpoint, shave the cost of the project by $60 million, or one-third of the original estimate, and eliminate the need for an environmental impact statement, which would have delayed any design by years and millions of dollars.
With less pavement, fewer bridges and lanes to build, less right-of-way to purchase and less utility work to perform, the new design will be easier to construct and will be less costly, said Montgomery Deputy Mayor Louise Wilson. The design is projected to run from 3 to 3.5 miles versus the 4.3 miles planned in the original project, she said.
"It's a boulevard design instead of a freeway design,"Wilson said.
What's different
In original plans, the bypass began at Old Somerville Road in Hillsborough and rejoined Route 206 at Belle Mead-Griggstown Road in Montgomery. That design would have divided Montgomery's 1,288-unit Pike Run development in two.
Wilson said the fear of the original proposal was that when the bypass is built, commuters would cut through residential roads, including Sunset Road -- a major route to the township schools.
The new design plans to feature the original start at Old Somerville Road, but an endpoint at the Mountain View Road area in Montgomery. That would benefit both needs, since the endpoint is near Hillsborough's Belle Mead/GSA Depot, said Kevin Davis, Hillsborough's clerk and business administrator.
Last year, the Hillsborough Township Committee voted to join Somerset County in buying the 438-acre General Services Administration Belle Mead supply depot on Mountainview Road for $17.5 million. The depot was an Army warehouse facility through the Vietnam War. During World War II, the facility served as a prisoner-of-war camp for captured members of the Italian military. The property then was turned over to the General Services Administration and was used until its closure in 1991.
The township now plans to take care of the site through a cleanup process and make it useable for the public, with a portion of the land being zoned for parks and recreation. The other portion, with access to the route of the bypass -- about 40 acres -- would be used for research and development, which will allow for more commercial development in the township, Davis said.
New business brings new tax ratables, and that means relief for taxpayers, Davis said. Currently, 85 percent of property taxes are paid by homeowners and 15 percent of taxes are paid by businesses in Hillsborough, he said.
"The changes they (the DOT) are showing us make it an attractive roadway," Davis said.
"That's how great compromises are made. Before the GSA Belle Mead Depot, we would have preferred traffic to zip on by. Now that we have that GSA depot, we want that bypass right there."
Decades of discussion
Trying to relieve traffic along Route 206 has been a problem for Hillsborough officials since the 1970s, Davis said.
A proposal was born in the early 1970s for a Route 95 whose route would have traveled farther south through Montgomery than the designs projected for the bypass. The highway would have run through what then was zoned a corporate development area and what now is an area of preserved farmland, Davis said. The idea died in the late 1970s.
"It was a major blow to Hillsborough," Davis said. "The corporate development zone could have been like a bridge to get those ratables to help homeowners and property taxpayers."
Then came the Somerset Expressway, which was another roadway projected by the state DOT to run through the corporate development area, but Hillsborough officials felt it would be "too expensive" to build, Davis said.
By the early 1980s, the idea for a Route 206 bypass was taking shape. The bypass would re-route traffic on the current Route 206 south of Somerville Road to a new freeway to the east.
The original idea always started at Old Somerville Road and would end south at Belle Mead/Griggstown Road. However, throughout the past 17 years, additional proposed exits on Hillsborough Road and Homestead Road were taken off the charts because Hillsborough officials feared those exits would spur development, Davis said.
The design always featured four lanes of travel, which then would split into two lanes when the bypass reached Montgomery. Under the proposed new design, the two lanes would be developed sooner before it reached Montgomery, Davis said.
Why now
Wilson said the agreement is finally coming together after years of calcification because of several factors.
For years, state DOT officials wanted to be mindful of their resources and feared that federal funding would be lost if the project's design ever changed, she said.
"(DOT) predecessors insisted federal funding would be lost forever if the design changed at all, and insisted any design change would require a new environmental impact statement, which would cost millions and years to complete,"Wilson said.
http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070318/NEWS02/703180369/1123/SPORTS08
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Holly |
Hillsborough may finally be getting Rt. 206 bypass
Posted - 03/21/2007 : 01:39:08
