By Sunayana Prabhu
LINCROFT – Six years in the making, the opening of the second roundabout at Brookdale Community College is coming to fruition. County representatives hosted a public information session June 12 to present the project design for public input.
Monmouth County engineers have finished their preliminary design to construct a modern roundabout at the intersection of Phalanx Road and Campus Drive. Michael Nei, project lead engineer, explained at the meeting held at Brookdale’s Student Life Center that the project is advancing to final design now. Pre-construction activities including moving utility poles along the roadway to make space for the project will start in the fall season and construction of the roundabout will begin in spring/summer 2024. “The construction will be fully completed by the end of 2024,” Nei said.
The project has been a collaboration among Monmouth County, Middletown Township, Brookdale Community College and the nonprofit Lincroft Village Green Association (LVGA). The nonprofit has championed and developed plans for the roundabouts at both the entrance points of Brookdale in collaboration with Middletown Township and Monmouth County for years. The Monday public session marks a major “milestone” toward accomplishing the goal of safe traffic flow around Brookdale, said Melanie Elmiger, LGVA director.
Elmiger has been advocating at township and county meetings for roundabouts, concerned about speeding and safety issues on all roads surrounding Brookdale where over 11,000 students, staff members and visitors contribute to a heavy volume of traffic in and out of campus.
“We’ve had a number of crashes at the intersection” on Phalanx Road, said Nei. A modern roundabout ensures fewer conflicts for drivers versus a conventional signalized intersection. “It’s just what the federal highway administration considers to be a proven safety countermeasure for intersections,” said Nei.
He further added that roundabouts reduce the total number of fatal crashes by up to 82%. They are compact and they reduce the speed of vehicles to about 20 miles an hour, something absolutely necessary when drivers treat the road like an “open tarmac,” said Christine Nolan who lives across from the campus in the Phalanx Road neighborhood of Lincroft.
According to crash history filed by the county, three right-angle (or T-bone) crashes occurred between vehicles making a left turn from Campus Drive and vehicles on Phalanx Road from February 2016 to 2019.
And safety isn’t the only issue. Several residential neighborhoods sit across from the Phalanx Road entrance to Brookdale and residents at the public session expressed the need for a roundabout to counter traffic congestion during peak hours.
The first roundabout at Brookdale’s CR-520/Newman Springs Road entrance opened in 2007 after joint efforts among Monmouth County, Middletown Township, the LVGA, Brookdale and Lincroft Bible Church. The project has significantly helped manage traffic flow entering and exiting the college on Newman Springs Road.
The study to build the second roundabout was undertaken in 2017 by Monmouth County engineers with the support of LGVA members. Campus Drive is a spine road through the college, providing access to both Newman Springs Road and Phalanx Road.
The Phalanx Road roundabout is funded by the county and the approximate construction cost is $2.5 million.
The article originally appeared in the June 15 – 21, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
