By John Burton
MIDDLETOWN – With the opening of Memorial Sloan Kettering’s new facility scheduled shortly, a potential traffic glitch appears to be getting fixed.
The cancer treatment facility, located at 480 Red Hill Road in Middletown, poses difficulty for motorists traveling south on Red Hill Road to access the site, given there is really no direct left-hand turn onto the property. But a recent discussion with a township official and representatives from the medical facility with representatives from the state Turnpike Authority has produced what they hope will be a solution.
“It’s an issue we identified a while back, actually,” acknowledged Township Administrator Anthony Mercantante. The issue for drivers has been there going back to when the location was used by Alcatel-Lucent Technologies as an office complex. Employees, however, in relatively short order realized they could get into the site by using the Garden State Parkway Exit 114 northbound roadway, Mercantante said. “After the first day or so you’ll know you’re supposed to make that little turn,” with a curb cut allowing access to the location from that onramp, he said.
At the Memorial Sloan Kettering Nov. 28 grand opening ceremony, Mercantante said a couple of attendees mentioned in casual conversation their trouble getting into the site, and he acknowledged he witnessed some making that inappropriate left turn onto the property.
While employees may learn the ways in and out, as the facility begins welcoming day-stay cancer patients for treatments and their families, given many aren’t going to be familiar with the location, it could pose confusion for some, Mercantante said.
“It’s clearly a problem that really doesn’t need to exist,” he said.
Red Hill Road is too narrow at that section to allow for a designated left-hand turn, leaving the Parkway entrance the only viable way to accommodate traffic traveling south, Mercantante said.
Vehicles traveling north on the roadway have an easier time of it, simply turning right, using the Red Hill Road entrance, Mercantante pointed out.
During a meeting with New Jersey Turnpike Authority representatives last week, Mercantante, joined by those from Sloan Kettering, made the argument that additional signage would be warranted to help direct traffic looking to enter from the south. The authority is resistant to what it calls commercial signage along these roadways, not wanting to be inundated with requests from businesses, Mercantante explained, with the authority initially opposing this request. “But in this case it was such a tricky maneuver,” turnpike officials agreed to it, Mercantante said.
Thomas Feeney, a Turnpike Authority spokesman said in an email response this week, “That’s what the jug handle is there for,” at the Parkway entrance, allowing access to the facility.
“The Turnpike Authority has no issue with Memorial Sloan Kettering directing people to use it,” Feeney said.
Mercantante said the series of about four signs offering directions into the site is expected to be installed in approximately a week. “They’ll provide plenty of direction,” he said.
Memorial Sloan Kettering did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The medical facility anticipates starting to treat patients on Dec. 12.
