NEW JERSEY SITE FIGHT: TRAFFIC TROUBLES

Wal-Mart traffic plan worries Lawrence residents [The Times of Trenton (N.J.)]

LAWRENCE—Visions of an increasingly congested Spruce Street due to a proposed Wal-Mart dominated residents’ concerns at this week’s planning board meeting.

The 143,000-square-foot site Wal-Mart has chosen for construction is near North Olden Avenue and Halo Farm and the Trenton Farmer’s Market, and adjacent to several residential developments. Spruce Street has four lanes, which under Wal-Mart’s plan would be reduced to two in order to make for smoother traffic flow, according to engineer and planner Raymond DiPasquale.

Wal-Mart representatives concluded that a two-lane road with a single center lane will allow for easier turning into the Wal-Mart site. However, board members expressed concern about the potential for traffic jams and decreased safety.

“Maybe this is a perceptional problem, but you got four lanes out there and you will be reducing it to a two-lane with increased traffic?” said board member James Kownicki. “The board is having trouble with this.”

Posted by Beth Gostanian on Thursday, June 21, 2007