The Delaware River Heritage Trail along Route 130 in Mansfield, NJ
US 130 corridor between Pennsauken and Bordentown is a leader in Pedestrian Traffic Deaths in New Jersey. In Northwest Burlington County the problem is becoming more acute as distribution centers have taken over the landscape of former farmland and brownfields due to the nexus of three major interstate highways: The Pennsylvania Turnpike, the NJ Turnpike, and I-295.
Those warehouses are a huge generator of truck traffic (not to mention loss of greenspace and water contamination from runoff). The warehouse building frenzy has made Florence RiverLINE station that 3rd busiest on the line, there is limited bus and shuttle service but many employees find that walking or biking along Route 130 is the most reliable way to get to their jobs.
In response NJDOT and Burlington County have prioritized improvements to truck traffic congestion and high automobile crash rates along with a promise to incorporate complete streets improvements. A tall order given the physics of fast traffic and heavy trucks. The first project that is the intersection with Florence Columbus Rd which is a connection between Route 130 and I-295 and Delaware Ave the main street for the village of Florence. It also about a mile from the Delaware River Heritage Trail in Roebling.
On March 1st NJDOT opened the project proposal to public comment. We have had issues with NJDOT not adequately distributing these notices like this project at the D&R Canal at Whitehead Rd in Mercer County. As such you have until Wednesday March 31st at Midnight to submit comments.
Currently, it’s a typical NJDOT intersection with a jug handle. This project “blows out” the intersection significantly. It will replace the existing jug handle with a bigger jughandle. There is also a new connector road which will create a second intersection to manage turning traffic. For compliance with NJ complete streets policy sidewalks and a roundabout will be added.
There are also a few short sections of ten foot wide bicycle compatible sidepaths mixed in with the sidewalks and wide shoulders. This system of shoulders and paths will direct bicyclists to transition between a sidepath and a shoulder at several locations.
Proposed intersection reconfiguration
We feel that the inclusion of pedestrian amenities is a major improvement from previous DOT projects but we believe that design changes are needed to actually make these facilities useful and safer. In line with the state complete and green streets policy and its toward zero deaths goal.
At the primary intersection we proposed adding a second crosswalk that will have no turning conflicts, pedestrian refuge areas for the crosswalks and a 10 foot shared use path along the entire norhtbound side of US 130.
BCGP proposal to improve bicycle and pedestrian safety at the main intersection
The new connector road adds a second intersection that will handle turning vehicles with a high percentage of truck traffic. We recommend at 10 foot sidepath along its entire length
Replacing the sidewalk with a 10 ft shared use path on the connector road.
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