To the Editor,
My name Is Alex Robuck, and I live in Hillsborough. Every Monday, part of my evening commute is towards Princeton.
Almost the only way to travel to this destination in any reasonable amount of time is down Millstone River Road and crossing the Griggstown Causeway to reach Canal Road. For those who may be fortunate enough not to know exactly where or what that is, allow me to explain.
Griggstown Causeway is a connecting street that is stretched over the Millstone River and canal. Logically, this road connects to Canal Road and Millstone River Road. However, the bridge connecting Millstone River Road and Griggstown is a one-lane bridge, with a yield sign on the Griggstown side, and two directions of traffic and no passing shoulders on the Millstone side.
Because of this flawed system, if one car wants to make a turn onto the bridge from Millstone, traffic in that direction is backed up until control of the bridge is switched back. How is control gained? When there is a large enough gap in traffic, a vehicle can ride up onto the bridge and go through straight towards Canal Road or make a turn onto Millstone.
During periods of high travel (Rush hour – 4-6 p.m. in the evenings – is what I’ve mostly experienced), a commuter can expect anywhere from a 5-20 minute delay because of this bridge (I’ve experienced a delay as long as 30 minutes). I for one, see this as an issue.
Even if I choose not to cross the one-lane bridge, the traffic backup from the archaic roadway designed to handle ten cars, not 100, prevents you from even passing the bridge.
Upon discussion with members in my household, I learned that there have been movements to put a two-lane bridge in to assist with the flow of traffic, but the local residents have shot it down because it would “promote more traffic.”
While I understand why residents may feel that way, isn’t there a point where the needs of the many outweigh the wants of a few?
It’s my suggestion that we either put a traffic light system in that would even the time spent on the bridge for the two sides, promoting a constant movement that would reduce the amount of traffic, or implement a two-lane bridge system that would eliminate the need to constantly switch between directions of traffic.
Sincerely,
Alex Robuck
Hillsborough commuter and citizen
