BY SUE MORGAN
Staff Writer
EATONTOWN — Residents of Clinton Avenue East who have flat out told borough officials that they want speed humps on their street will get them … when Mother Nature permits.
In the meantime, those residents might have to wait out the cold weather that has prevented installation of the traffic-calming devices up until now.
Seems that the freezing temperatures and Arctic-type weather that has characterized early December has delayed any start on the construction, according to borough officials connected with Eatontown’s ongoing speed humps installation program.
Robert Stetz, the borough’s consulting engineer with T&M Associates, indicated last week that the Middletown-based firm has Clinton Avenue East on its to-do list for the second phase of that program, which is designed to slow down motor vehicle traffic particularly in residential areas.
“Yes, [speed humps] are going to be installed on Clinton Avenue East, but we’re fighting the weather,” Stetz said in a telephone interview. “We’re not sure if we’re going to be able to get them in this season.”
The air temperature must be at least 40 degrees Fahrenheit in order for construction crews to successfully roll paving equipment over the speed humps explained Borough Business Administrator Michael Trotta, who confirmed Stetz’s remarks.
“[Clinton Avenue East residents] are going to get the speed humps, but not during this round of construction,” Trotta said.
The sudden winter weather has left the crews with very few days that they can actually work on milling down some of the humps that have already been installed, Trotta noted.
“We’re running out of days now,” Trotta said.
On those days when weather has been conducive to paving, construction crews have been “milling down” some of the existing humps, such as those on White Street south of Broad Street, into “speed tables,” Trotta said.
The “speed tables” measure about 12 feet wide and have been elongated on both the ascending and descending sides by five feet on each end to 22 feet total according to a report presented last month to borough officials by Ed Broberg, also with T&M.
Vehicular traffic still has to slow down to 25 miles per hour or less, according to Broberg, who has described the speed tables as less abrupt upon impact and more “driver-friendly.”
Speed humps at South Street and Buttonwood Avenue have also been reconfigured into speed tables, Broberg said.
On the advice of borough officials, the four humps originally installed at the four-way intersection of South Street and Clinton Avenue West have been removed as well as one on Maxwell Drive, he added.
The initial traffic calming project as well as the modifications have been paid for out of a contribution made to Eatontown for that purpose by Lowes Home Improvement Center, which opened this fall on Route 35 near Clinton Avenue West and Clinton Avenue East, according to borough officials.
As a condition of its site plan approval, Lowes had agreed to fund the traffic calming project when those living near the store’s location expressed concerns about increased traffic traveling through their neighborhoods to the retailer.
The speed humps slated for installation on Clinton Avenue East will be funded by the Lowes contribution as will scheduled improvements at Wyckoff Road and South Street, Broberg has said.
In the first phase of the traffic-calming program, speed humps were also installed late last summer on Grant Avenue, South Street and Reynolds Drive.
A handful of Clinton Avenue East residents subsequently came to the council and requested that speed humps be placed on their street which runs between Wyckoff Road and White Street.
Motorists have used Clinton Avenue East to avoid part of Route 35, often traveling at higher rates of speed through the residential neighborhood, those residents told officials.
The speed humps have received mixed reviews with some residents and officials praising their effectiveness in slowing down traffic in a borough that hosts Monmouth Mall and a large portion of Fort Monmouth.
Other measures designed to slow down motorists, such as traffic patrols and rumble strips, proved ineffective in the long run according to Mayor Gerald J. Tarantolo
Other residents and officials, however, have stated that the humps will damage vehicles, hamper snowplowing and increase air pollution in the area.

