Brick Planning Board OK’s Traffic Realignment at Chick-Fil-A: Here Are the Numbers

Chick-Fil-A, Brick, N.J. (Credit: Google Earth)

Brick Township’s planning board has approved a proposal by Chick-Fil-A to realign its drive aisles and expand its drive-through lanes in order to accommodate the daily crowds that flock to the fast food chain’s only location in town.

The restaurant, built in 2011, is located at 522 Route 70 in a pad site outside the Lowe’s Home Improvement store. It has long been a success, but has also been overwhelmed by customers, with lengthy queues of vehicles outside, occasionally spilling out into the drive aisles outside the pad site, and sometimes making in-restaurant dining inaccessible. The project before the planning board was aimed at improving the site’s mobility.

“The Brick Chick-fil-A site will be upgraded to provide two lanes through the entire drive-thru facility, which will increase traffic capacity and efficiency,” the project’s engineer, John Harter, said in planning documents. “The Chick-fil-A dual fulfillment arrangement will accommodate stacking for 650 feet where 430 feet are provided today. Additionally, a canopy [will be built] above the pick-up area that spans the dual lane fulfillment operation. The existing Chick-fil-A building area and shopping center site access will be maintained.”

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A traffic study showed 263 vehicles move in and out of the restaurant during its peak morning hours, 171 during the peak afternoon hour, and a staggering 286 at weekend peak times. The expansion of the drive-through lane is not projected to increase traffic, but accommodate the traffic that already exists. Like many fast food and casual restaurants, the pandemic era saw drive-through traffic skyrocket – a condition that has been maintained ever since. Lines in the vehicle lanes stretch 535-feet during the morning peak, 450-feet during the PM peak, and 375-feet during weekend peaks, according to the study, which was conducted in September.

“The proportion of customers utilizing the drive-thru compared to the dining room has increased over the last decade; and this trend has continued as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic,” the traffic study said. “The existing site provides a ‘side-by-side’ drive-thru consisting of two menu boards and two service lanes of vehicle stacking. Once an order is placed, the existing operation merges the two service lanes into one approaching the payment window.”

The new system will provide two lanes through the entire drive-thru facility as the dual fulfillment operation is expected to process customers more efficiently, and, therefore reduce vehicle queue lengths and service time. The proposed configuration would also accommodate a longer vehicle queue length in a more compact space.

The changes will reduce the number of dining room parking spaces from 40 to 31, however the efficiency will actually increase the number of available spaces at a given time, the report said. The current long queues of vehicles make about 20 spaces inaccessible during busy periods.

The plan will also create new access and door entry points between the existing store and drive thru areas for staff so they can access the outdoor drive-through portion of the building. There will also be modifications of parking areas and some ancillary improvements, including the relocation of fencing, a flagpole and other on-site accessories.