Transportation and roadways are vital for thriving in any community or metropolitan area. Just as transportation played a vital role in the township’s growth in the past, it’s significance remains today. East Brunswick occupies an excellent position on the most direct route to markets north and south, establishing it as a transportation hub.
East Brunswick has multiple major roadways running through the township, including roughly 4 miles of Route 18. The northern part of Route 18 sees more than 100,000 vehicles per day. Numbers of that magnitude should not be surprising since the northern portion of Route 18 intersects with the New Jersey Turnpike and provides easy access to New York City, while the southern portion of Route 18 provides access to Philadelphia and the Jersey Shore. Because of the town’s centralized location within the state, many find East Brunswick the perfect place to live and commute to work in NYC as well as Philadelphia.
In light of the township’s highest volume of commuters, it should come as no surprise that East Brunswick owns its own bus terminals that transport thousands of commuters north-bound every day.
“If our bus station was a train station, we would rank as the fifth largest train station going into NYC,” said East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen in regards to the township’s two bus stations.
Cohen added that the demand for commuter transportation is so large the township has redevelopment plans to add a third bus station in the future.
The volume of commercial and private traffic that these roads bring to East Brunswick is one of the key draws in the revitalization of the commercial corridor. Major national retailers like HomeGoods and Burlington are choosing to come to Route 18 in East Brunswick because it is one of the only commercial corridors in the state that has traffic visibility numbers that high with an active consumer base living short distances away, according to Jonathan Sternesky, the Township’s Economic Development Officer.
The stretch of Route 18 within the township, and its adjacent roads have supermarkets, movie theaters, and several shopping centers, the largest of which is Brunswick Square Mall, a 1-million square-foot shopping complex. Throughout 2017 and 2018, the Township added an average of two and half new businesses per month on these roads.
In addition, the township recently announced improvement plans to a number of its roadways.
Many of these roads connect or run parallel with major highways such as Route 18 and the Old Bridge Turnpike. East Brunswick with the assistance of state and county representatives has plans to makeover more than 10 of the towns most traveled roads. In addition to this work, the township has committed $1.7 million to township road improvements. In total, it is expected that approximately 14 to 15 miles of road will be repaved in 2018. n By Gennie Taylor