Millburn's new traffic rules...

As of Thursday night, when everything reopens & all hell breaks loose.

You're welcome.

-s.

oh, thats going to be confusing. the little side streets are going to see a big uptick in traffic i guess.

Why will all hell break loose? You just have to drive a little further to the end of Essex to turn onto Millburn Ave. What's the big deal?

It seems like these should both be easy lefts, as they are off one-way streets. But I guess the flow of traffic, due to lights and pedestrians, couldn't handle this volume?

Trying to actually get onto Main St from the east or west in Millburn will become more convoluted. I've been squirreling around the neighborhoods across from Trader Joe's to get to Main St. south for a while. But those curvy streets from the school to Taylor Park are not really meant for more traffic to do that cut-through.

boy they really know how to screw up traffic over there in millburn.

They are building a new street connecting Essex St and Millburn Ave. That will be the street you can use to get from one to the other.

They are also supposed to be building a traffic circle by Annie Sez, where Millburn Avenue now changes from two-way to one way.

Where is this new street going to be?

Hmm, they're making it hard for me to get to the Millburn Deli. I wish they would time the lights on Essex St. The stop-and-go gets tedious.

I have driven from Maplewood to the Millburn Deli several times while Main St. has been closed for construction. It really isn't hard. You just drive a very short distance further before you make the left. I predict the actual impact this change will have on our lives will be extremely small.

kmk said:

Where is this new street going to be?

Somewhere around the Town Hall/Haagen Dazs area.

kthnry said:

Hmm, they're making it hard for me to get to the Millburn Deli. I wish they would time the lights on Essex St. The stop-and-go gets tedious.

But they're going to keep traffic moving which improves things for the greatest possible number of people, making it worse for only a few. The alternatives are 1. Make both Essex St and Millburn Ave two-way (again?) or 2. Park your car before you reach the no-left-turn intersection and walk to your destination.

I'm never going to Milburn again.

Tom_Reingold said:

kthnry said:

Hmm, they're making it hard for me to get to the Millburn Deli. I wish they would time the lights on Essex St. The stop-and-go gets tedious.

But they're going to keep traffic moving which improves things for the greatest possible number of people, making it worse for only a few. The alternatives are 1. Make both Essex St and Millburn Ave two-way (again?) or 2. Park your car before you reach the no-left-turn intersection and walk to your destination.

Timing the lights would make a bigger difference.

The cross street by Sneaker Factory and the Millburn Diner is going to be a mess.

This is all part of a larger plan. They are finishing phase one now and phase two will be done next summer so we really need to wait until it is all done to see if it all works as planned. But the number of pedestrian injuries in that area was very high.

Tom_Reingold said:

kthnry said:

Hmm, they're making it hard for me to get to the Millburn Deli. I wish they would time the lights on Essex St. The stop-and-go gets tedious.

But they're going to keep traffic moving which improves things for the greatest possible number of people, making it worse for only a few. The alternatives are 1. Make both Essex St and Millburn Ave two-way (again?) or 2. Park your car before you reach the no-left-turn intersection and walk to your destination.

I'd prefer it if they switched Millburn and Essex as two way streets. People drive on those streets as if its a highway and as someone who is a frequent pedestrian in Millburn, I've come very close to being hit. I feel like the speeding is far worse since its 3 lanes of traffic one way.

It is mostly not going to be 3 lanes anymore.

I was a 'ute when Millburn and Essex were two way streets. The volume of traffic was on Millburn Avenue and Essex had less traffic since drivers knew they were going to end up on Millburn Avenue anyway. Millburn Avenue was a horror.

Timing of the lights on Essex has been adjusted this week and seems better. Not sure how the new traffic pattern will work, we shall see!

Anyone know how this will affect the route of the #70 bus, which currently goes down Main Street?

wendyn said:

Timing of the lights on Essex has been adjusted this week and seems better. Not sure how the new traffic pattern will work, we shall see!

I'll want to see that! They've been horrible for as long as I can remember.

Timing the lights helps traffic move faster for those who are moving but doesn't help those who are stopped and waiting. Interestingly, it can increase speed for some and decrease it for others. A more worthy goal is to improve overall throughput, which sometimes involves slowing down the best case in favor of the average case. Allowing peak traffic speeds of over 40 mph in a place where people walk is asking for trouble, as @anonymous-user points out. Cities and states seem to design roads and streets in a way to make things ideal for the motor driver at the expense of everyone else's safety and convenience. Do we want that, and do we want to pay the injury and death price for easy motor traffic? I suppose we all do, but to what degrees?

Not to get off topic but it's very strange that it's posting me as "anonymous-user" when my user name is Perseverance!

Perseverance said:

Not to get off topic but it's very strange that it's posting me as "anonymous-user" when my user name is Perseverance!

Thanks for the heads up - I saw this bug - couldn't figure out what username it was supposed to be.

It seems to be working now! Back to our regularly scheduled programming on Millburn traffic patterns...

Isn't this just a return to the traffic patterns of a few years ago?

At one time there was no left turn from Millburn to Main during the day. But nights and weekends it was ok. Also there always was a left allowed from Essex to Main. And Millburn is being narrowed.