New Jersey

[Zeffy]

Yes, that's the southern end of the bypass. The northern end is lagging well behind.

Based on this PDF link I found of the bypass (see last page), it looks like what you're seeing is construction of the southern tie-in point of the bypass to existing 206.

http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/community/meetings/documents/handout061307CF_002.pdf

Thanks both of you guys.    I wasn't sure, because I thought that the bypass would end a little further north near Hillsborough Road rather then at Mountain View. Ah, well, good to know the southern end is in full throttle. I wish they would widen 206 to AT LEAST the Hillsborough Road intersection - someone tried to turn left into the diner and ended up holding traffic for a good minute or two because 206 traffic is ridiculous (which is why the bypass is being built, but I'm skeptical it'll actually work) in Hillsborough.

Side bar here, but, also, they are trying to turn Hillsborough's old 206 into a Main Street. I think Hillsborough is a bit deluded - we're a huge town, the biggest municipality in terms of land area in Somerset County, and unless you like walking half an hour or more, you can't get anywhere in this town without a car. That's why I wanted to move to Manville, they have a decent Main Street, or, they are building some nice apartments in Somerville which I would easily live in...

[Alps]

What really irks me is that south of the bypass, 206 is going to remain two lanes (!) for the short distance until the railroad bridge, where it then widens to four lanes at 601. I don't think it even takes a traffic engineer to notice the problem with that.

[froggie]

Whatever happened to the plan to keep the south end of the Hillsborough bypass east of the railroad and tie it into US 206 near Belle Mead-Griggstown Rd?

[Roadrunner75]

The bypass itself is going to be 1 lane in each direction south of CR 514, with a median.  Nothing irks me more than a divided highway with a single travel lane per direction.  The completion of the Route 33 bypass around Freehold drives me nuts every time I get to the new section and it narrows to one lane.  I would prefer they just make it an undivided Super 2 at that point.

[Zeffy]

What really irks me is that south of the bypass, 206 is going to remain two lanes (!) for the short distance until the railroad bridge, where it then widens to four lanes at 601. I don't think it even takes a traffic engineer to notice the problem with that.

Am I the only one who foresees this bypass doing nothing in Hillsborough? I've ridden part of the bypass (the open section), and it's... kinda cool? Okay, maybe that's being too generous. It's not a wide enough at all. North of 514, it's 2 lanes each way for a bit, then it once again reverts back into a single lane. Lame.

206 South is a problematic road because most of the time, it's a single lane each way with spots opening up to 2 lanes here and there before ultimately going back to a single lane. It's filled with trucks, so getting past them is all but impossible. Once you get into Princeton, there's speed traps here and there and Princeton PD are generally dicks about speed limits ("TRAFFIC LAWS STRICTLY ENFORCED" they say... I believe it!), so it's not like you can just blow by the 35 zones without being vigilant.

[jeffandnicole]

NJ is moving towards center-line rumble strips.  In contracts going out to bid in September, these roads will be getting the groove):

Rt 206 - MP: 0.0-129.77;
Rt 88 - MP: 0.85-9.83;
Rt 79 - MP: 0.06-11.69;
Rt 202 - MP: 26.25-79.35;
Rt 27 - MP: 1.28-38.24;
Rt 71 - MP: 1.72-16.29
Rt 40 - MP: 5.66-51.6;
Rt 77 - MP: 1.53-22.52;
Rt 347 - MP: 0-8.58;
Rt 47 - MP: 0.7, 3.36-75.11;
Rt 30 - MP: 6.47-48.84;
Rt 9 - MP: 1.9-103.37

[Roadrunner75]

I believe they already started or are about to install centerline rumble strips along Route 70, which is badly needed in the Pine Barrens stretch.

[Mr. Matté]

Does 31 between I-95 and the Pennington Circle already have rumble strips? In the GSV imagery, it looks like there's a regular pattern of grooves in the centerline but I can't tell from the imagery if they are there. (example) I'd bike out to the area but I tempt my fate enough biking on Route 31 north of Pennington where there's at least shoulders.

[jeffandnicole]

I believe they already started or are about to install centerline rumble strips along Route 70, which is badly needed in the Pine Barrens stretch.

Yep - that was a seperate contract that went out to bid a few months ago.

Does 31 between I-95 and the Pennington Circle already have rumble strips? In the GSV imagery, it looks like there's a regular pattern of grooves in the centerline but I can't tell from the imagery if they are there. (example) I'd bike out to the area but I tempt my fate enough biking on Route 31 north of Pennington where there's at least shoulders.

It certainly looks like it there...which surprises me because I hadn't heard or seen anything where center line rumble strips had been tested or implimented in NJ prior to the Rt. 70 contract mentioned above.

[Alps]

NJ is moving towards center-line rumble strips.  In contracts going out to bid in September, these roads will be getting the groove):

Rt 206 - MP: 0.0-129.77;
Rt 88 - MP: 0.85-9.83;
Rt 79 - MP: 0.06-11.69;
Rt 202 - MP: 26.25-79.35;
Rt 27 - MP: 1.28-38.24;
Rt 71 - MP: 1.72-16.29
Rt 40 - MP: 5.66-51.6;
Rt 77 - MP: 1.53-22.52;
Rt 347 - MP: 0-8.58;
Rt 47 - MP: 0.7, 3.36-75.11;
Rt 30 - MP: 6.47-48.84;
Rt 9 - MP: 1.9-103.37

Above is a list of roads that don't need centerline rumble strips. But more importantly, NJ 347? That's a county road. Is the state taking it over? (They should, but that's a different matter.)

[storm2k]

What really irks me is that south of the bypass, 206 is going to remain two lanes (!) for the short distance until the railroad bridge, where it then widens to four lanes at 601. I don't think it even takes a traffic engineer to notice the problem with that.

iirc, there was a ton of nimby protests about where the end of the bypass would be which forced the southern end to change it's location. that it will squeeze back into a 2 lane affair for a short while is just par for the course. when they upgraded the section from brown ave to the circle 15 years ago, they squeezed it back down to 2 lanes south of there to where the bypass is supposed to start due to the conrail overpass. still gets congested as hell over there, and who knows if they'll ever upgrade that part too.

[Alps]

What really irks me is that south of the bypass, 206 is going to remain two lanes (!) for the short distance until the railroad bridge, where it then widens to four lanes at 601. I don't think it even takes a traffic engineer to notice the problem with that.

iirc, there was a ton of nimby protests about where the end of the bypass would be which forced the southern end to change it's location. that it will squeeze back into a 2 lane affair for a short while is just par for the course. when they upgraded the section from brown ave to the circle 15 years ago, they squeezed it back down to 2 lanes south of there to where the bypass is supposed to start due to the conrail overpass. still gets congested as hell over there, and who knows if they'll ever upgrade that part too.

Until that bridge needs to be replaced, I don't see anything happening. As substandard as it is, railroads are difficult and costly to deal with, especially when it comes to something that affects their track. (You can be in their right of way without touching their track and they're still not happy.)

[BrianP]

World's largest 'jetport' was planned for Pine Barrens
Could the NJ72 and NJ68 freeways (and perhaps NJ 38 freeway) have been proposed due in part to the planning at the time of this 'jetport'?  And the freeways died due to this project being scrapped.

And sort of like how there is BWI airport this could have been NYPHI airport.  If this was built perhaps it would have stunted the growth of Newark airport. 

[Pete from Boston]

I recall that a similar proposal was floated and rejected for the Great Swamp in Morris County.  I don't remember which came first.  The Port Authority was hungry even in those days.

[BrianP]

I recall that a similar proposal was floated and rejected for the Great Swamp in Morris County.  I don't remember which came first.  The Port Authority was hungry even in those days.

According to the article that came first:

At the time, an additional airport for New York was considered an eventual necessity and the Port Authority already had run into public opposition in its proposal to build it in what is today the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in Morris County, according to the book, "Contested Lands: Conflict and Compromise in New Jersey's Pine Barrens," by author Robert J. Mason.

[roadman65]

I have a question about US 206 in Sussex County, NJ.  I am not familiar with the traffic count on the part in Newton, but I was wondering being NJDOT widened US 206 in Byram Township from two to four lanes, if the traffic north of there into Newton itself is heavy as well. 

I say this because I have always proposed for NJ to build a bypass around Newton for it and NJ 94 to take the two routes off the streets of Newton and to make the alignments more straight without the turns around the square in Newton.  Would such a proposal be feasible?

[Alps]

I have a question about US 206 in Sussex County, NJ.  I am not familiar with the traffic count on the part in Newton, but I was wondering being NJDOT widened US 206 in Byram Township from two to four lanes, if the traffic north of there into Newton itself is heavy as well. 

I say this because I have always proposed for NJ to build a bypass around Newton for it and NJ 94 to take the two routes off the streets of Newton and to make the alignments more straight without the turns around the square in Newton.  Would such a proposal be feasible?

I just drove from Newton down to I-80. The whole thing absolutely needs to be improved. If you build a bypass of the current road, two lanes may be enough, as you'll split through traffic away from the locals. But anything along the current roads needs 4 lanes badly.

[roadman65]

Then a two lane bypass for Newton would be sufficient then.  Nonetheless, a bypass though.

[_Simon]

I found NJ-24 south over here on a county road.



The bridge structure it's on is NJDOT, where NJ-57 and NJ-182 meet.  I've reported to both NJDOT and the county but nothing's been done about the SOUTH and/or the 24 shield.

[Alps]

The bridge structure it's on is NJDOT, where NJ-57 and NJ-182 meet.  I've reported to both NJDOT and the county but nothing's been done about the SOUTH and/or the 24 shield.

Dammit, just leave it.

[NJRoadfan]

Its been there since at least 2001. Might even be a NJDOT install.

[_Simon]

No, it's new.  There was one here, but it wasn't this one, and it didn't say South above 24.  I drive past this every day.

[jeffandnicole]

NJDOT recently upgraded their traffic camera website.  Compared to before, a LOT more cameras are now available for viewing, and they stream real time, instead of updating every 2 seconds or 30 seconds as they did previously).

http://www.511nj.org/cameras.aspx?

[jeffandnicole]

NJDOT recently upgraded their traffic camera website.  Compared to before, a LOT more cameras are now available for viewing, and they stream real time, instead of updating every 2 seconds or 30 seconds as they did previously).

http://www.511nj.org/cameras.aspx?

Glancing around South Jersey - they're not perfect though.  A few aren't working, and at least one is misplaced.  The US 30 @ Collingswood Circle Camera's icon is at the Airport circle.  It's also no longer a circle.

[Zeffy]

These new ones seem much more smooth. These are pretty cool. Does the actual map though fail to render upon zooming in? I'm having that problem right now, but the cameras themselves are working. These are much better than the picture-by-picture method I've seen before - the live feed is much better looking!