NJDOT releases environmental assessment of proposed bypass

The New Jersey Department of Transportation yesterday released its environmental assessment of the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed — a document several years in the works and the next major hurdle on the path to constructing the controversial Millstone Bypass.

The bypass is a proposed alternate road to U.S. Route 1 that would allow the removal of three traffic lights from the highway to facilitate traffic flow.

The environmental assessment outlines why NJDOT designed the road as it did and examines the potential impact of the bypass on the surrounding area.

"The assessment does not make any recommendations or an overall conclusion," NJDOT spokesman John Dourgarian said of the report. "It really lays out, we think, in comprehensive detail, the impact of the project."

George Hawkins '83, director of the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association, said the lengthy report — which spans several hundred pages — will require time to study. "This is a serious document, so we will invest time to do a serious evaluation of it," he said.

Hawkins, an opponent of the bypass, explained that the report is not designed to make a clear conclusion but eventually will lead to one. "What happens in a report like this is this report will drive a conclusion," he said.

NJDOT's next step will be to hold a public hearing within the next several months to elicit feedback on the assessment, Dourgarian said. Comments from the hearing — in addition to written comments submitted by area residents and groups — will be considered by NJDOT, which will then forward the information to the Federal Highway Administration.

The FHA will then decide whether building the proposed Millstone Bypass will have no significant impact on the area or whether NJDOT will have to draft a more thorough environmental impact statement considering alternatives to the proposed alignment.

Many of those who oppose the proposed Millstone Bypass have been troubled by NJDOT's approach to the environmental assessment, Hawkins said. "My concern about this report all along is the department of transportation began the [environmental assessment] with the decision already made," he explained. "What this document I think supports is that the alternative that they've already called their final alignment is the only alignment that achieves their goals."

Princeton Borough Mayor Marvin Reed, who said he has not yet had a chance to read the assessment, said NJDOT took so long to make the assessment because of the controversy surrounding the proposed highway.

"I know it took them a long time because the project became increasingly controversial, and they obviously felt they had to do as much as they possibly could to respond," he said. "We'll see after we go through it with our consultants just how many places there are that need to be challenged."

Dourgarian said the department feels the proposed bypass is the best solution for mitigating traffic on Route 1, which supports 80,000 vehicles daily. "We feel that we have selected an alignment with the least amount of impact," he said. "There's no such thing as a perfect alignment."