March 21, 2012 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 7 Mahwah Planning board focuses on Crossroads traffic by Frank J. McMahon The Mahwah Planning Board focused on the traffic that would be generated by the Crossroads Center retail mall at its last public meeting. Crossroads Developers, LLC is planning to construct a 600,000 square foot retail center with two big box stores, a tenplex theater, 200,000 square feet of retail shops along a pedestrian oriented corridor, and an athletic field. The center would be constructed on the 140-acre International Crossroads property located at the intersection of Routes 17 and 287 in Mahwah. In his presentation, Traffic Engineer Dan Diserio described the plans for the construction of the major entrance to the retail center, and the potential traffic that might be expected when the mall is built and in operation. Diserio acknowledged that there is a traffic backup on Friday nights on Route 17 in the summer, but said his analysis of the potential traffic that would be generated by the retail center is very conservative. He described it as the “worst case scenario.” According to Diserio, there are 196,000 people living within a 20-minute ride from the site, and his analysis was based on that drive time. He defined new trips to the site as those made by people who are starting out with the sole intention of coming to the retail center, while pass-by trips are those made by motorists who are on the road for another reason and are passing the site anyway. Diverted trips are those that would be made to another site, but would be diverted to the Crossroads site. Diserio said diverted trips are not included in his calculation. He predicted there would be 1,600 new trips in and out of the retail center during the weekday peak hour period, with 250 passby trips. Most of the traffic coming to the site would come from Mahwah, Ramsey, and Suffern, New York, with 23 percent of the new trips coming from Mahwah, 19 percent from Suffern, and 17.5 percent from Ramsey. He estimated that 5.5 percent of the new trips would originate in Airmont, New York and another four percent from Monsey, which is also in New York. Diserio described some improvements that are planned for the roadways leading to the retail center. One is a new access road called Orient Boulevard. Another, to be called Cross Road, would connect the existing Leisure Lane to the main entrance to the retail center at its intersection with the Mountainside Road overpass over Route 17. Access to Stag Hill Road for the residents who live in that residential area became a point of discussion during the meeting. Several board members voiced concerns that those residents traveling north on Route 17 would have to contend with the traffic heading for the retail center in order to reach the overpass to cross Route 17 and travel along Mountainside Road to Stag Hill Road. “It makes no sense using the entrance to the mall area for an access to a large residential area,” board member Jeremiah Crean told Diserio. The planner called that road design a safety nightmare and claimed that the developer was supposed to purchase some surrounding property in order to make a different entrance to the mall. Board member Daniel Weixeldorfer, also complained about forcing the Stag Hill area residents to drive to the mall entrance to get to the overpass. “It’s not fair to people,” Weixeldorfer said. “You need to spend money to make the access easier for these people.” Diserio said his analysis of the potential traffic to this site does not warrant another overpass over Route 17. He added that, as a traffic engineer, he believes the most logical entrance to the mall is opposite Mountainside Road. Board Chairman Todd Scherer told him, “We’d like to see some different alternatives.” The public hearing on the Crossroads application was carried to the April 9 meeting of the planning board.