Students:
- Andrew Samuel,
- John Corak (Team Leader).
Advisor: T. Brennan
New Jersey State Highway Route 31 in Ewing Township is a 40 mph four-lane urban principle arterial, which serves as the main line of access to The College of New Jersey. The corridor’s current design is unsafe pedestrian and bicycle use, making it an ideal candidate for improvement under NJDOT’s Complete Streets initiative. Adjacent to Route 31 is the Campus Town development, a mixed-use student housing facility with ground-level retail space, anticipated to open in 2015. Due to the development’s proximity to the TCNJ campus and surrounding neighborhoods, vehicular, pedestrian, and bicycle traffic will increase along the corridor. To accommodate the additional traffic, the Route 31 Road Diet Design Team has designed a lane reduction, also known as a road diet, to calm traffic flow and provide a safer environment for alternative modes of transportation. The final design decreases the speed limit to 35 mph, and features two 5-foot directional bike lanes, two 11-foot travel lanes, and a 12-foot two-way left-turn lane between Olden Avenue and Upper Ferry Road. Software analysis conducted using Synchro and SimTraffic aided in the determination of Level of Service and the design of a coordinated traffic signal system. The final design maintains a Level of Service rating of C or better at all signalized intersections in both the morning and evening peak hours. The project will improve the safety, accessibility, and sustainability of The College of New Jersey and Ewing Township, while implementing NJDOT’s statewide initiative for Complete Streets.