Page 4 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • April 18, 2012 Mahwah Residents concerned about Crossroads traffic plan by Frank J. McMahon Many residents of the Stag Hill residential area in Mahwah oppose the traffic control plan Crossroads Developers Associates, LLC submitted to the New Jersey Department of Transportation for off-site road improvements. The developer designed the plan to control traffic in the area of the retail mall that is planned for the Crossroads property at the intersection of Routes 17 and 287. The developer is planning to construct a 600,000 square foot retail center that would surround the Sheraton Mahwah Hotel on the 140-acre International Crossroads property. Plans call for two big box stores with three smaller store buildings, a tenplex theater, 200,000 square feet of retail shops along a pedestrian oriented corridor, and an athletic field. The impact of mall traffic on Mahwah in general, and on the areas surrounding the site in particular, has been one of the major concerns of mall opponents and the planning board. The board has devoted its last two four-hour meetings primarily to the traffic plan for the site. About 50 people attended the board’s last public meeting, and several voiced their concerns about the traffic impact of the mall on their neighborhoods. Many are residents of the Stag Hill area, where there are about 175 residences and several businesses. Residents said the potential traffic coming into the mall from Route 17 North would back up the road leading to the Mountainside Road overpass, negatively impacting their ability to travel to the overpass and onto Stag Hill Road. They also asserted that the mall traffic would make it difficult for emergency service vehicles to access the Stag Hill Road area in a timely manner in an emergency. The developer’s plan that was submitted to the NJDOT calls for northbound mall traffic to enter Leisure Lane from Route 17 and travel north along Cross Road, an interior roadway, to the intersection with Mountainside Road. Motorists would then turn right into a new road that would provide direct entrance to the mall area. Southbound traffic would exit Route 17 onto Mountainside Road and travel north to the overpass over Route 17 to a signalized intersection with Cross Road and proceed directly onto the entrance road to the mall. According to the plan, the northbound auxiliary lane on Route 17 leading up to Leisure Lane would be extended, but that access to the mall is to be closed and traffic would have to proceed north on Cross Road to the Mountainside Road intersection. On the other side of Route 17, the deceleration lane leading to Mountainside Road would be extended and the Route 17 southbound ramps to Mountainside would be reconfigured with a channelized right turn lane. The Mountainside Road/Stag Hill Road intersection would be reconfigured into a four-leg stop controlled intersection. Traffic lights would be installed at the intersections of both the northbound and southbound ramps to and from Route 17 on Ramapo Valley Road (Route 202). To address some of the traffic concerns of the Stag Hill Road residents, the developer is proposing a cloverleaf loop northward from the Mountainside Road overpass to permit southbound traffic to exit onto Route 17 without traveling along that part of Mountainside Road that proceeds to the Stag Hill Road intersection. A traffic signal is being proposed for the Mountainside and Stag Hill intersection, and some reconfiguration of the corner of the truck stop (continued on page 8) History comes alive On April 21, from 1 and 5 p.m., the 15th New York Cavalry, a Civil War reenactor unit, will be encamped on the lawn outside the Mahwah Museum. Visitors will step back in time to the life of the soldier during the war years. The encampment is part of Mahwah Museum’s new exhibit ‘New Jersey Fights in the Civil War: Remembering Soldiers Buried in Mahwah.’ Local collectors have provided the museum with many Civil War era artifacts, photos, and documents that have been put on display. The exhibit will be open Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays, from 1 to 5 p.m. until the end of June. The museum is located at 201 Franklin Turnpike in Mahwah.