NJDOT to release environmental assessment of Millstone Bypass area

After months of waiting, supporters and opponents of the controversial Millstone Bypass are hopeful that the New Jersey Department of Transportation will soon release an environmental assessment of the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed area.

The assessment — which has been in the works for nearly two years — is the preliminary step toward approving construction of the Millstone Bypass, a road designed to mitigate traffic problems on U.S. Route 1.

John Dourgarian, NJDOT spokesman, said yesterday that the assessment has been completed and is currently being reviewed by the Federal Highway Administration. Once the FHA approves the assessment report, it will be released to the public.

"We expect their sign-off any day now, possibly even as early as this week or next week," Dourgarian said.

NJDOT is required by federal statute to conduct an environmental assessment before it can undertake any major construction project, such as the creation of a highway, according to George Hawkins '83, director of the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association, which opposes the bypass.

The purpose of the assessment is to conclude whether building the Millstone Bypass would have an adverse environmental impact on the area.

Dourgarian said the process of conducting the environmental assessment is complex. "It's a thorough, comprehensive document, and it takes time," he said. "It looks at all the impacts of a project like this — on water, air and property," in addition to historic, cultural and socioeconomic effects on the area.

If the assessment report states that there would be no adverse impact from constructing the bypass — or that the impact could be mitigated — plans for the project can advance.But if the assessment concludes that the bypass will have a negative effect on the area, a more detailed environmental impact statement, or EIS, will be conducted to seek alternatives to the project, Hawkins said.

"The benefit of getting an EIS over an [environmental assessment] is that an EIS requires a review of alternatives to the proposed action, and it requires a review be done in a public process," Hawkins said.

He added that if NJDOT's assessment recommends that the project proceed, groups that oppose the bypass may appeal to the Federal Department of Highway Transportation.

Hawkins criticized NJDOT for spending so much time waiting for a preliminary study.

"The way the system is supposed to work is before the decision is made, there is an assessment of impacts," he said. "In this case, the department of transportation decided they wanted to build the road, and it's doing anything in its power to justify the decision."

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But Carole Carson, mayor of West Windsor Township and a supporter of the proposed plan for the Millstone Bypass, praised NJDOT's actions.

"They've looked at all the alternatives and done fairly extensive work on this," she said. "I believe number one that the department of transportation works with tax payers' money, and to do environmental assessments — which are expensive — without having narrowed down the alignment doesn't seem to make much sense."

Princeton Borough Mayor Marvin Reed, who opposes the bypass, said the Borough has prepared for the release of the environmental assessment by hiring its own environmental and traffic consultants to study the situation.

"They should be in a good position to challenge it and say the single alignment that was presented was not adequately examined and that a full environmental [impact] statement should be called for," Reed said, adding that he believes area residents should be invited to participate in examining the different alternatives to the bypass.

"We maintain [that] was never really done," he said.

Wendy Benchley, a member of the Borough Council, said she believes the bypass would exacerbate traffic and potentially harm the environment.

"To bring the Millstone Bypass within 400 feet of the [Delaware & Raritan] Canal, of course there's going to be impact, and it's just going to destroy the feel of that area," she said. "And it'll bring intensive traffic right there right next to our green area, right next to a place where people have recreation."