Sayreville Residents Could Lose Homes Under NJDOT Roundabout Plan

The Borough Council unanimously opposed the current design as residents warned about displacement, truck traffic and the safety of children waiting for school buses.

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SAYREVILLE, NJ — A proposed state road project intended to address traffic safety at Bordentown and Kenneth avenues is facing opposition in Sayreville, where residents say the current design could force longtime homeowners from their properties and create new safety concerns in the neighborhood.

The Borough Council unanimously opposed the New Jersey Department of Transportation’s proposed double-lane roundabout during its Sept. 28 meeting, calling on the state to reconsider the current design.

For residents who addressed the council, the debate isn’t simply about how vehicles will move through an intersection. It’s about whether some families will be able to remain in their homes.

Edward Hamlin, 74, told officials he has lived in Sayreville for 43 years and has shared his current home with his 84-year-old wife for nearly four decades.

“At the ages of 74 and 84, respectively, we hope to spend the rest of our remaining lives in peace and surrounded … by the familiarity and comfort of our cherished neighborhood,” Hamlin said.

Instead, Hamlin said the proposed roundabout has left them facing the prospect of being displaced.

“The Department of Transportation has proposed a plan to construct a roundabout and threatens to upend the community and force us … out of our homes,” he said.

Hamlin said the impact would extend beyond individual properties.

“This roundabout will not only displace us, but also disrupt a tight-knit community,” he said.

He told the council that an online petition opposing the roundabout had collected more than 280 signatures.

Council Questions Whether Plan Improves Safety

Councilwoman Mary Novak questioned the safety justification for the current design, citing information officials received during an earlier presentation about the project.

“When the question was asked, they answered, ‘Well, this is, we deem this to be 80 percent safe,'” Novak said.

Novak questioned what that figure meant for drivers and residents and argued that the state should develop another approach.

“It’s terrible that they’re taking people’s property, but the more important thing here is it’s making it more dangerous than it is right now,” Novak said.

Councilman Alberto Rios said he was not opposed to improving the intersection, but argued that the potential consequences for residents require the state to consider reasonable alternatives.

“For families who have spent decades in their homes, this isn’t just a traffic project,” Rios said. “It’s their home, their memories and their community.”

Rios summed up the divide between the engineering proposal and residents’ concerns more simply.

“Sometimes government looks at a map and sees an intersection,” he said. “Residents see their homes.”

Concerns Go Beyond Losing Homes

Residents also questioned what the proposed configuration could mean for traffic moving through the neighborhood.

Gail Surgent, of Bordentown Avenue, raised concerns about using a double-lane roundabout in the area and asked officials to pursue a reduction of the speed limit on Bordentown Avenue to 25 or 30 mph.

Joanne Hallett, of Kenneth Avenue, pointed to commercial trucks traveling through the residential area and questioned why heavy truck traffic was being routed there when there are no industrial warehouses along that section of the road.

Other residents suggested alternatives including traffic signal improvements, additional speed enforcement and restrictions on commercial truck traffic.

But one of the most immediate concerns involved children.

Miranda Paris-Gandola, of Bordentown Avenue, told the council that school buses already stop near homes in an area without sidewalks and crosswalks.

“Near us we have bus stops in front of our house because we don’t have the crosswalks and we don’t have the sidewalks,” Paris-Gandola said.

She worried about what could happen if vehicles approaching a stopped school bus were also navigating two lanes merging into one.

“I can’t imagine what will happen if they’re trying to merge into one lane from two lanes,” Paris-Gandola said. “It’s just a really big concern.”

Sayreville Wants A Different Plan

The council’s unanimous opposition does not by itself stop the state project. It does, however, put Sayreville’s governing body on record against NJDOT’s current design and calls for the state to develop an alternative.

Councilman Stanley Synarski said the goal should be finding a solution that works better for the residents directly affected as well as the surrounding neighborhood.

“We definitely have to give the residents of Kenneth Avenue a better chance of getting … something better for everybody in that area, and Bordentown Avenue and the whole area,” Synarski said.

For the homeowners who spoke Monday, what NJDOT proposes next could determine more than the future configuration of an intersection. It could determine the future of the neighborhood they call home.

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