Barbara A. Preston | July 2, 2025
Somerset County officials presented their preferred solution to the Griggstown Causeway traffic nightmare. It incudes three traffic lights. There would also be some corrections on the Canal Road side. One big problem — the flooding of the causeway during heavy rain — was not addressed at the public hearing and information session at the Somerset County Administration Building in Somerville on July 1.
About 130 Montgomery, Griggstown, and Franklin residents showed up to learn about the plan, and to voice their opinions and ideas related to the Griggstown Causeway Bridge over the Millstone River.
The Griggstown Causeway Bridge from the Montgomery Township side during a rare moment of peace.
Image by Barbara A. Preston.
Ellen Nusbaum of Montgomery, Donato and Roberta Nieman of Franklin, and Consultant Debbie Hartman presenting her work.
Photos by Rikki Massand and Barbara A. Preston.
Residents at the meeting, which started at 6:30 pm and ended at 8:30 pm, overall seemed to like, or at least to submit to the solution. Some suggested installing temporary signals now, because something needs to be done and fast. There were also calls for two lanes or two side-by-side bridges.
Donato and Roberta Nieman, long-time Franklin Township residents, attended the meeting to see the county presentation. Donato, who retired as Montgomery Township administrator, is a member of the Millstone Valley Preservation Coalition.
He told The Montgomery News: “This was a one-lane bridge when I was five, and it's a one-lane bridge now with 10 times more traffic. They have to resolve the issues with flooding, and they have to resolve the issues with traffic, because the traffic is there whether or not the bridge is widened … or raised. The cars are here, and they are not going to go away.
“We've had issues with traffic accidents and with flooding where people can't get across the river and some were trying to get to the hospital. So you're talking about public safety, both motor vehicle safety and rescue squad and fire company safety. So it's a problem."
Roberta, who uses the bridge regularly to get to work, said she can easily come up with three safety incidents each week. “Either people are driving too fast or they don’t want to stop for the line of cars waiting to access the bridge, so drivers go into the opposite lane of traffic to pass you. Drivers have to be looking all over the place so that they don’t get hit. Meanwhile, people are honking, and everybody is just way too agitated and upset, and it’s way too dangerous.”
She said the traffic light solution may work. “We definitely need that.”
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Ellen Nusbaum spoke at the meeting, saying, "There are a number of days each year when flooding takes out this bridge, which causes a whole different set of safety issues. People don't know the bridge is closed, when they're coming north or south, and they start to turn on it, and then they have to back themselves out. I was wondering if there was a way to put signs like you have over at a Bunker Hill that says that the bridge is closed, and if you're doing anything about the flooding."
Project Manager Debbie Hartman of WSP consultants gave a thorough presentation on the bridge project, then accepted questions from the audience. She answered the flooding questions, saying:
"I get that the flooding is a huge issue," Hartman said. "We actually did look extensively at the flooding and what it would take to alleviate it. However, we don't know if it's permit-able at all. It could take a really long time if they're granted the permit at all. So we didn't want to hold up the safety project [while trying to] secure those permits. So that could move ahead. So .. it is not intended to be part of this project because we don't want it hold up the signalization and the safety improvements at this intersection."
The three traffic lights (see above) will take about 2.5 years before they are functional — two years to design and obtain the necessary permits and six months to install the signals.
Project Manager Hartman asked, “So, why are we doing this project?”
“The biggest reason is there are safety issues. The intersection of River Road and the Griggstown Causeway [bridge] is the unsafest portion that we are trying to control and fix.”
The two other issues involve two intersections on Canal Road: one at Bunker Hill Road and the other at the causeway.
“Regarding rear-enders [or fender benders], you are very high here at 41% of crashes. The next highest are backing-up crashes, where a car is backing up and hits a car behind them. These are super high at 17%. You see the statewide average is 1.2%.”
There were 29 crashes on the River Road side of the causeway and 13 on the Canal Road side, for a total of 42 crashes between 2014 and 2017.
Two cars that are head-on to each other on the bridge, cannot back up due to vehicles behind them.
Drivers at times ignore the westbound stop sign.
Long trucks/vehicles use the intersection even though not permitted.
Unexpected vehicle/driver behaviors: - On River Road, drivers will use the opposing travel lane to bypass the cars waiting in line to cross the bridge.
Project Manager Hartman showed a video depicting a game of chicken between two drivers.
"You can see here the conflict starts on the bridge and people are kind of figuring it out. It's like, who goes first, or, who's going to back up [off the bridge] to let the other pass]? It's a little bit of a chicken game here? And then, when a driver finally gets through, the cars behind it keep going and going and going. And we have 75 vehicles that go all at once [without giving the opposing side a turn.]
"And this actually isn't even the longest one we saw. We caught another one that was 120 vehicles coming across the bridge. If you calculate the distance of a car, that traffic backs way up along canal road."
See details of the recommended solution in the slide below. (Other alternatives to the traffic light solution).
Cynthia Sinicropi-Philibosian lives on River Road by the causeway bridge — "The driveway with the big boulders we put in place because when the bridge is out, people took it upon themselves to turn around on our front yard and leave tire treads, really disrespectful! Anyway, that's not why we're here."
"What I didn't hear in this plan was the intersection of Belle Mead-Griggstown Road at River Road," she said. "If I was a billionaire, I would build a bridge from Bell Mead-Griggstown Road, over the river and canal, to Canal Road. Then, I would keep that lovely little piece of history [the single-lane bridge] for pedestrian and bicycle traffic. But I'm not a billionaire so the idea of metered signals are great.
"But, you know, you're putting a traffic signal [practically] in my living room," Sinicropi-Philibosian. "I will concede to it for the safety and wellbeing and quality of life for the residents and commuters.
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Thomas Lee of Millstone River Road in Belle Mead said, "It seems like it would be a rather easy task to add a cantilever walkway four or five feet wide for a human and a bike on either side of the existing causeway bridge. That would alleviate a lot of people getting hurt on that bridge."
Liz Palius of River Road moved to Belle Mead about 40 years. She told The Montgomery News that the traffic in general is horrible, and it is difficult for the police to safely pull-over a vehicle on River Road because there is no shoulder.
"Drivers today don't obey the rules," Palius said. "I've talked to the police about it, and they know. But they don't have enough police. I follow the rules, and I drive the speed limit, and people have no problem whatsoever passing me on a double yellow line. The problem is, that you need more enforcement. But it's not safe for police to get out of their cars to stand on the curvy River Road to write a ticket."
"I think there could be a solution if we are creative."
From left: Liz Palius (responsible for the National Scenic Byway), Jessie Havens (local historian), Barbara ten Broeke of East Millstone , Linda Barth (author) and her husband Bob. (Barbara, Linda, and Bob are members of Canal Watch).
Photo by Barbara A. Preston
>> Click to Here View the Slide Show
>> Click Here to Send Your Public Comment by July 15, 2025.
