BRIELLE — The Brielle Planning Board approved the construction of a drive-thru lane at the Dunkin Donuts on Route 70 at its meeting Tuesday night.
The Dunkin Donuts, located at 1007-1009 Route 70 [Block 109, Lot 2], a .41 acre lot, is owned by the JMZ Realty Corporation, LLC, represented by the applicant, AKSH Donuts.
John Rea, traffic engineer of McDonough & Rea Associates, testified as the traffic expert on behalf of the applicant.
Mr. Rea explained to the board that his firm had consulted with the NJDOT [New Jersey Department of Transportation] to review the application’s traffic safety concerns.
In order to comply with NJDOT traffic safety guidelines, 500 square feet of the roughly 1600 square foot building would have to be removed “to accommodate the counterclockwise flow for the proposed drive-thru window,” said Mr. Rea.
The traffic study was modeled using a 10-car queue stimulation, which Mr. Rea described as the “standard” for drive-thru establishments; it is also required for DOT approval.
Based on two traffic studies conducted during both the summer and non-summer seasons, Mr. Rea concluded that “the driveway system to Route 70 … [permits] most of the entrance occurring at the northern driveway, and almost all of the exciting occurring at the southern driveway.”
“We are also closing … the southern access to the site from Old Bridge Road – the southern driveway will function as an exit only,” said Mr. Rea.
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