Commuters, officials talk about issues
Traffic around TCC, mailer sent to E.B. residents at issue
BY VINCENT TODARO Staff Writer

EAST BRUNSWICK - Commuters were back before the Township Council Monday night, raising concerns about the township's contracted bus service and traffic conditions around Route 18.

Reading a lengthy note from one commuter disillusioned with the bus service, Commuter Parking Advisory Committee member Arthur Fliegelman said the group's Internet forum includes hundreds of such complaints from those who use East Brunswick's two parking facilities and ride the buses to New York.

Fliegelman was responding to a comment made at a previous meeting by L. Mason Neely, who heads the township's parking utility. Neely has defended the bus service, saying the commuters in East Brunswick are getting a great deal on bus tickets and that complaints are not as widespread as some have suggested.

Commuter issues are being discussed as the township considers a new contract with Suburban Transit for exclusive service between East Brunswick and New York. The Township Council tabled its vote on awarding the contract in September, and the measure has not yet returned to its agenda.

After reading the posting Monday, Fliegelman broached the issue of traffic in the vicinity of the Transportation and Commerce Center (TCC), the commuter lot next to Sam's Club. Construction is under way to turn the lot into a 1,600- space commuter parking deck. Fleigelman said commuters such as him may abandon that park-and-ride because of the traffic around it. He said Route 18 traffic makes it difficult to use the TCC, as opposed to the township's other parkand ride, the Neilson Plaza. That facility is located in the Tower Center, farther north on Route 18 near the New Jersey Turnpike.

Council President Nancy Pinkin said even noncommuters are subject to that traffic. Part of the problem is that even if only one nearby highway artery is backed up, it affects other nearby roads such as Route 18.

Mayor William Neary said the problem is a "global" one, noting that Route 18 "connects Belmar to the rest of the world." Neary noted that Rutgers University adds a lot of traffic to the area, and that East Brunswick officials alone cannot solve the problem with Route 18 traffic. He noted that the highway will soon be designated an area of national importance, but did not say what impact that could have.

Fliegelman said that if commuters cannot get to the New Jersey Turnpike quickly enough, many of them will have to stop using the TCC even when it is built to be bigger and better.

Another commuter, Madeline Molinari, raised concerns about a traffic pattern at the TCC, particularly on Tices Lane between Old Bridge Turnpike and Route 18. Now, drivers trying to make a U-turn take the new jughandle and have to cut across four lanes of traffic to turn left.

She asked if the area will be redesigned as Toll Brothers' proposed transit village is built on the adjacent Golden Triangle site, but Neary said that is not in the plans.

Molinari then asked if additional police presence was an option there, because people make left turns from the center lanes. Neary said he would ask the department to look into that idea.

Molinari also was upset with a flier recently mailed to township residents regarding plans for the Golden Triangle. The flier, which refers to Toll Brothers' plans as "Market Place at Regency Square," states that East Brunswick will "receive" a "state-of-the-art" parking facility at TCC. But Molinari said this is misleading because the township is paying millions of dollars for the new deck, which hardly means it is "receiving" it.

Neely has previously stated that the six-story garage is slated to cost $32 million, and will be paid for via parking fees collected from commuters, as well as a Payment in Lieu of Taxes program that will begin when Toll Brothers finishes construction on the residential and commercial portions of the Golden Triangle redevelopment.

Molinari said the parking deck will not be state-of-the-art, instead describing it as "functional and practical." She said the wording should be clarified before another flier is distributed.

Jaffe Communications Inc. published the flier, which discusses the proposal to build one- and two-bedroom market-rate condominiums, along with retail, office and restaurant space. Township officials said the mailer was arranged and funded by Toll Brothers.