On May 5, I attended a Planning Board meeting in Tinton Falls concerning the proposed development on the Laurino farm that is adjacent to Hance Avenue.
The traffic engineer for the developer gave a presentation of his findings relative to the project. He stated that Hance Avenue is a county road; however, the intersection of Hance Avenue and Apple Street would get a traffic light to help traffic flow in that area.
He further explained that the intersection of Hance/Sycamore was worse than the Apple Street intersection and evaluated the Hance/
Sycamore intersection to be in a "failed" state.
There is no lower grade for an intersection, thus, he did not define the impact of the additional traffic since the end result would still be a "failed" rating.
Now the builder did say he was willing to work with the county to see if a light could be provided to improve the overall "failed" rating, but banking on the benevolence of an entity driven by a profit motive is not a wise investment.
The Apple Street intersection was addressed, but the far worse Sycamore Avenue intersection has no agreed-upon solution. I find this condition to be totally unacceptable.
Fixing the Hance/Sycamore intersection needs to be defined as a requirement before any Hance Avenue entry/exit point to the new development is approved. Failure to address this up front may create a disaster for the residents of this community.
Bob Witt
Tinton Falls