 "Photo: Andrew Howard / Photography Editor")
The familiar sight of orange cones and congested lanes on Route 18 may be a thing of the past.
Gov. Jon S. Corzine praised the project’s completion in an Aug. 19 press release for augmenting economic revitalization, creating more than 600 jobs and advancing commercial opportunities for business.
“Today we mark the completion of Route 18, a major transportation artery that not only provides access to downtown New Brunswick and Rutgers, but regional hospitals, major corporations, local businesses and residential communities,” Corzine said. “For that reason, Route 18 is a shining example of how public works projects can stimulate our economy through investment and job creation for our citizens.”
The project is estimated to generate $90 million in income for workers and add an estimated $115.7 million to the state’s gross domestic product, according to a press release from the governor’s office More than 80,000 cars travel on the highway headed for downtown New Brunswick each day.
The project eliminated the traffic lights on Commercial Avenue and New Street, built new outer roadways to separate local traffic from the expressway traffic, added new pedestrian crossings, revamped and extended Boyd Park and raised noise walls to buffer several residential areas, according to the New Jersey Department of Transportation’s Web site.
The planning period of the $200 million multiple-stage project began in 1999 when the Community Partnering Team met with the New Jersey Department of Transportation, according to the Web site. It continued through March 2001 and 2002 when Public Information Centers led to numerous items being integrated into the reconstruction, according to NJDOT’s Web site. Construction began in 2005.
The project is a success, said Bill Neary, Executive Director of Keep Middlesex Moving, a nonprofit transportation management association.
“It came in on time and on budget. That’s pretty impressive,” Neary said. “It has reduced the commuter traffic coming into the city, especially in the morning. In the afternoons it’s better, but in the mornings it’s substantially better.”
Neary said the construction has reduced his commute from South Brunswick to New Brunswick significantly.
“It’s probably 15 minutes less than it’s ever been,” Neary said.
Neary listed some of the additional improvements made to Route 18.
“The park access is better, the bike path along the river is nicer, the access for businesses is improved. Restaurants can now have boat access, so people can ride to New Brunswick on a boat and go to the restaurants and theatres,” Neary said. “On top of everything else, aesthetically, it looks pretty good.”
The construction had improved the traffic situation, said Jim Halpert, who worked on Route 18 in New Brunswick for three-and-a-half years as an ironworker and shop steward.
“When they took the lights out at Commercial Avenue and New Street, they saved a lot of time,” Halpert said. “They came in on time and under budget. From a construction point of view, it’s a success. No companies went under. No one got killed. Traffic is flowing.”
Halpert is still baffled by the position of the pedestrian bridge by Carpenter Road.
“Who is going to use that bridge? There are maybe 14 or 16 homes back there.”
Marcia Halpert, who grew up in New Brunswick and has lived in the area for more than 40 years, said her commute from Spotswood to New Brunswick is shorter due to construction.
“I think its cut down the time it takes for us to get where we live now in Spotswood to New Brunswick,” Halpert said. “It used to take us 35 minutes and now it’s down to 18.”
Rutgers College senior Ben Major considered the construction an improvement.
“I was gone for a year and by the time I came back I noticed that they had really streamlined it and cleaned it up. Traffic moves very nicely,” Major said. “The placement of the light up by Rutgers village, where the sound walls are as soon as you come off Route 1 when you are driving into New Brunswick, I think that really backs things up.”
A New Brunswick city spokesperson could not be reached for comment as of press time.
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