Traffic study says roadway impact modest but residents press for worst-case testing

Traffic engineering testimony at the Franklin Township Zoning Board hearing concentrated on whether five daily prayer sessions and occasional larger events would materially affect operations on South Middlebush Road.

Traffic engineer Douglas Piniac (Dolan & Dean) described an automated weekday count performed Oct. 7–11, 2024 and explained the analysis used conservative assumptions: the study applied two people per vehicle as a conservative trip-generation figure (yielding roughly 30 vehicles entering and 30 exiting for a 60-person session) and a 1% annual growth factor to represent a near-term buildout. Piniac said the roadway’s critical hour is 5–6 p.m.; under the modeled daily sessions the driveway egress was projected at about LOS D (roughly a 30-second average delay) and did not exceed typical thresholds used to trigger major off-site mitigation (the consultant cited ~100 peak-hour new passenger-car equivalents as a common screening threshold).

Piniac also reported that a fully modeled special-event scenario (50 vehicles entering/exiting for a 150-person event) would push the egress movement to LOS E without traffic control, and the team therefore recommended traffic management for special events (off-duty officers or similar) and coordination with Somerset County for technical review. The applicant committed on the record that events expected to exceed routine session sizes would require special-event permits and on-site traffic control.

Multiple residents challenged the data set and assumptions. Questions included whether weekday October counts reflect current conditions, whether weekend or summer counts should be collected, the effect of school-bus stops and local seasonal recreation traffic, and whether worst-case sensitivity testing (for example, one person per car) should be performed. Piniac acknowledged the counts were limited to weekdays, said weekend data were not collected, and confirmed that special events would be managed with hired officers as a practical mitigation. The county review was noted as outstanding; the county may require turn-lane improvements or other conditions if warranted after its technical review.

The board asked the consulting team to clarify thresholds and to be ready to supplement analysis if the board requests additional sensitivity testing. Residents said they would like weekend and seasonal counts and a clearer numeric threshold that would trigger special-event permitting and off-site mitigation measures.

Next steps: The hearing has been continued to July 2; the board may ask for additional traffic sensitivity tests, updated counts, or recommended conditions after the county comment is received.

Quote (traffic): "So ... we did a conservative analysis assuming there'd be fewer people per vehicle ... which would then create a trip generation of 30 entering and 30 exiting," said Douglas Piniac, the traffic engineer.