The Lawrence Township Council has awarded a $46,270 contract to an engineering firm to design a new traffic signal at the intersection of Federal City Road and Federal Point Boulevard.
Remington Vernick Engineers was awarded the contract at the Township Council’s June 18 meeting. Its work will lead up to preparing bid specifications for the traffic signal.
The decision to install a traffic signal grew out of a study prepared by traffic consultant Arora and Associates, which stated that a traffic signal is warranted at the intersection.
The traffic study recommended installing separate left turn lanes in both directions at the traffic signal on Federal City Road at its intersection with Federal Point Boulevard.
Residents of the age-restricted Traditions at Federal Point housing development had voiced concerns about the additional traffic that would be generated by a new apartment development in Hopewell Township.
The entrance to the 300-unit Woodmont Forge at Hopewell apartment development in Hopewell Township is opposite Federal Point Boulevard, which is the entrance to the Traditions at Federal Point development.
There are several offices and a daycare center in three office buildings on Federal Point Boulevard in Lawrence Township that also generate traffic.
The traffic study also documented that a traffic signal is warranted at the intersection of Federal City Road and Bull Run Road, which is on the border of Lawrence, Hopewell and Ewing townships, said Municipal Manager Kevin Nerwinski.
Lawrence Township officials met with Ewing Township and Hopewell Township officials several times during the past 18 months to discuss a cost-sharing agreement among the three towns for the traffic signals at Federal Point Boulevard and Bull Run Road, Nerwinski told the council.
It is an issue that impacts the three towns, but the administrators for Ewing and Hopewell townships indicated that they were not interested in entering into a cost-sharing agreement for the traffic signal at Federal City Road and Federal Point Boulevard, Nerwinski said.
Hopewell Township approved the Woodmont Forge at Hopewell development, which will use the traffic signal at the intersection of Federal City Road and Federal Point Boulevard as much as Lawrence Township does, Nerwinski said.
However, Hopewell Township Mayor Courtney Peters-Manning said the traffic study that was prepared in connection with the Woodmont Forge development stated that a traffic signal was not warranted at the entrance to the development – even with future development.
The Hopewell Township traffic study stated that there would be the potential to back up traffic onto I-295 if a traffic signal would be installed at Federal City Road and Federal Point Boulevard in Lawrence, Peters-Manning said. The intersection at Bull Run Road and Federal City Road is a better location for a traffic signal.
Peters-Manning said that it was her understanding that Lawrence Township, on its own, commissioned a different traffic study that showed something different. However, Hopewell Township was not involved in that study and never agreed to a new study nor any change in its agreement, she said.
“Hopewell and Ewing remain committed to a three-way cost sharing for a traffic signal at Federal City Road and Bull Run Road,” she said. “We had many discussions over several years with Lawrence, Ewing and Mercer County about the traffic signal at Federal City Road and Bull Run Road.
“We had an agreement in place to share the cost of that signal (at Bull Run Road). From Hopewell’s perspective, and I believe Ewing’s as well, nothing should have changed that agreement.
We remain committed to a three-way cost-sharing for a traffic signal at Federal City Road and Bull Run Road,” Peters-Manning said.
