The Manalapan Township Committee should continue to seek assurances from the promoters of this summer’s Harley-Davidson celebration at Raceway Park that the health and welfare of the town’s citizens will be protected.

The Manalapan Township Committee should continue to seek assurances from the promoters of this summer’s Harley-Davidson celebration at Raceway Park that the health and welfare of the town’s citizens will be protected.

Officials in Marlboro and Englishtown — if they haven’t already done so — should also begin investigating what preparations they may need to make for the August weekend when tens of thousands of people are expected to stream into this little corner of western Monmouth County for the Harley-Davidson 100th Anniversary Open Road Tour.

Representatives of Raceway Park, which is in Old Bridge, just over the border from the area of Manalapan near Union Hill and Pension roads, and Harley-David-son have said that live music will be part of the entertainment during the motorcycle company’s celebration. The event will not feature motorcycle racing.

The Old Bridge Township Council has given Raceway Park permission to sell up to 50,000 tickets per day for Towns brace for big eventthe event, which is set for Aug. 16-18.

In any case, the roads leading to and from Raceway Park — primarily Route 9, Route 527 (Main Street in Englishtown), Route 522, Route 520, Route 33, Union Hill Road, Gordons Corner Road and Pension Road — are likely to bear the brunt of the traffic heading to the Harley-Davidson event.

At this point, Manalapan officials are not planning to initiate action to stop the event from taking place. They are, however, investigating their legal options.

The municipal attorney announced at last week’s Town-ship Committee meeting that Manalapan is pursuing a regional solution with Marlboro and Eng-lishtown to seek assurances that those communities will not bear an unsafe burden associated with allowing an event in another county to take place.

There is sure to be an impact on this area as a result of the Harley-Davidson event.

The residents in the corner of Manalapan closest to Raceway Park need to know that everything municipal officials can do to protect their health and welfare is being done.