Jackson At a recent Township Council meeting, which featured a report from the township engineer, traffic, road construction, maintenance, and development issues were major topics.
The township’s desire to install a traffic light near Rova Farms, a conserved site being developed for recreation, was the subject of a letter received from the Ocean County Engineering Department, according to Council Vice President Mordechai Burnstein.
An engineering staff member will be assessing the situation, according to the letter. This was long overdue, according to Burnstein. It is our hope that this year will bring about a change from the previous experiences at Rova Farms.
Additionally, he mentioned a resolution about Pitney Lane, which had seen a sixfold rise in traffic since 2018. In many areas of our town as well as the neighborhood where it is occurring, there is a serious risk. We value it when locals get in touch, keep an eye on things, and try to exert pressure on us to continue.
Burnstein specifically thanked Charles Cunliffe, our engineer. He has been on top of Bartley Road, Bethal Church Road, and a few other roads. He mentioned that the county will shortly get reports from T&M Associates, a company the township engaged, which will be used in connection with county-owned road rehabilitation projects.
The council later questioned Cunliffe over a few of the resolutions that were on the agenda that evening and that related to his department.
Jennifer Kuhn, the president of the council, inquired about the state of affairs at Pitney Lane, pointing out that two resolutions had called for calming devices and striping on that township road.
In response, the engineer said that approving professional services and capital enhancements for Pitney Lane were two of the resolutions. Due to the numerous traffic and congestion problems surrounding South Cooks Bridge, Pitney Lane has been on the radar of police traffic safety units and engineers since 2018. Its use as a cut-through accounts for a large portion of the traffic. Between 300 and 315 people used it on average in 2018. That soared to 1,800 daily trips by 2022.According to Cunliffe, the police department conducted additional counts in one direction last year, which indicated that there were 1,400 journeys per day. That’s about 2,800 journeys every day. To find out how quickly cars are moving through there, they conduct a speed study. Throughout the corridor, the percentile speed has been rising. The speed in the 85th percentile was 39 mph.
According to Cunliffe, about 15% of the 1,800 to 2,800 journeys made each day involve speeds of 39 mph or more. The speed limit for the road is 25 mph. These figures may rise significantly. This was ascribed to newly approved growth plans and a school district reorganization.
According to Cunliffe, parking on one side of the road might be taken into account. He noted that additional recommendations include placing 25 mph pavement striping, 25 mph regulation signage along the corridor, and radar enforcement signage beneath it to inform the public that law enforcement is present.
He also mentioned parking limitations at nearby junctions and upcoming curb repair. Two other bids were made. Speed radar signs were included in Bid A. They are the ones that show the speed so you can tell whether you are moving at a high speed. Although they still require an enforcement presence, those can be short-term successful. At any given time, police cannot be everywhere.
“Speed tables were included in Alternate Bid B,” Cunliffe noted. Speed humps are commonly referred to as speed tables. Based on the submitted values, we suggested awarding the base offer, which included the baseline modifications to the signage and striping, followed by alternate bid B, which included the speed tables.
When asked how long the project would take, the engineer replied that it should be finished by the September start of the new school year.
Kuhn mentioned in the meeting that she had communicated with the county engineer about the new Wawa. Many of the complaints have been viewed by me. I am aware that it is a troublesome place. Leesville Road was going to be closed. That is no longer what they do. They will be reassessing the new Wawa, but they are looking to redirect their efforts on Cedar Swamp.
