Walgreens Traffic Engineer: Cut-Through to Neigborhood Not Very 'Problematic'

By Elaine Van Develde

The area surrounding the Route 35 site of a proposed Walgreens in Red Bank may have a NJ Department of Transportation (DOT) failing traffic grade, but the site itself passes the zoning requirements for such a store, officials cautioned at Monday night's Planning Board meeting. 

"It's a terrible intersection," Planning Board Attorney Michael Leckstein said near the end of two hours of testimony about the proposal by a traffic expert (engineer) and fielded questions. "But, an application can't (legally) be turned down because of traffic."

And traffic expert John Harter, testifying for the Mark Development application for the 14,200-square-foot store, offered an explanation site-specific traffic analyses and what he saw as bonuses in improvements to the site offered by Mark.

The developer's plans for the Walgreens site were approved by the DOT in early December. 

Those plans include: "phasing," or modifying traffic signals, by adding a signal pole just north of the driveway and three new signal heads, two modified and one new, to offer "unopposed" entrance to the site; adding three left turn arrows in a southbound traffic lane into the site, making it clear that a left can be made into the driveway; increasing the radius of an entrance driveway about from 5 to 12.5 feet, facilitating easier turns for twice weekly delivery trucks; and widening the abutting Garfield Place by 10 feet, giving more room for  turns onto Broad Street (Route 35), which would also need to be approved by the county. 

While the prospect of this or any other use's traffic impact in that spot has been all but a consolation to area residents, the developer's attorney, Martin McGann, reminded all that the latest DOT-sanctioned plan is what he thinks is "significant improvement over the original design."

Stressing a lower-than-usual predicted impact of the Walgreens on the site, also said that "new (vehicle) trips (estimated) are under 2 percent in traffic flow, with a 1.2 percent increase on weekdays and a Saturday peak hour 1.9 percent increase. You would normally see a fluctuation of 2 percent or more" at such an intersection. We are a greater trip generator than the (car) dealership, but minimal at the intersection."

Having studied information from similar stores with drive-through pharmacies, Harter said that the Walgreens would bring about one car a minute during peak traffic hours, or 71 entering the site per hour on a typical weekday and 70 exiting, and 57 entering in an hour on weekends and 59 exiting.  

Harter said that while the retail use will increase traffic, it won't be as much of a hike as if a convenience store moved onto the site. The estimated increase at peak hours is 50 percent for Walgreens, based on the use and size, and 65 for a convenience store. 

Saying that "a reason Walgreens is interested in this location is because of the great exposure to traffic that's already in this area (or what's called pass-by traffic)," Harter said that a built-n traffic component is that "roughly half of evening peak hour traffic is pass-by."

So, the pass-by is not additional traffic, Harter said, it's an existing traffic flow of people headed home northbound and passing the site where a Rassas Buick dealership sat for decades. 

Harter said he had no traffic analysis of the dealership when it was in full operation, only while it was shut down.

As for the opposing neighbors, Harter added that "we don't feel that the cut-through to the (abutting Garfield and Rumson place) neighborhood is going to be as problematic as we've heard."

Residents from that area who were in attendance and have consistently questioned quality of life infringements by the development, still showed the same disapproval.  

Those who spoke also continued to question how the traffic impact could be judged as minimal or better than something else when the area is already at a failing grade. 

Concerning residents' requests and queries, one being the question of idling trucks and the possible ill effects, Harter said that the maximum idle time for a truck, according to state law, is three minutes. Violators can be issued summonses.

Residents had also requested a color rendering of improvements, which McGann said should be ready by the next meeting in January.