City Council asks state for signal at Swan Street and Route 165.
By: Linda Seida
LAMBERTVILLE The city will ask the New Jersey Department of Transportation to install a pedestrian-activated traffic light at Swan Street and Route 165 to make crossing the state-owned highway safer.
A 23-year-old woman was struck by a car in April while trying to walk across Route 165 on her way to work at a dry cleaner. She died three days later.
"I just think it’s amazing there haven’t been more fatalities," Mayor David Del Vecchio said.
Mayor Del Vecchio stopped short of calling the proposed traffic light a direct consequence of the woman’s death.
"I don’t know if it’s a direct result," he said. "It certainly helps us focus on it."
Council President Cynthia Ege said crossing the highway is always dangerous.
"It doesn’t matter the time of day," she said.
The City Council and Mayor Del Vecchio unanimously agreed to ask the DOT for the light in a resolution passed Sept. 12. Councilman Frank Kramer was absent.
The exact location of the proposed light isn’t nailed down yet, although it will be between Brunswick Pike and Swan Street, in the vicinity of the bridge over Swan Creek, Public Works Director Paul Cronce said.
Officials hope to pay for the light with a grant. The city already has applied to the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission.
A handful of residents who attended the special meeting of the council agreed with the need for a light at the intersection.
"That’s great because we have a lot of children and senior citizens that cross right there and just go," resident Tish Secula said.
The city also plans to mark the road with a crosswalk.
Resident Dorothy Anthes took it a step further. In addition to the light and the crosswalk, she suggested adding a sign warning drivers they’re approaching a pedestrian crossing so they’ll begin to slow down.
Councilman Ron Pittore agreed an additional measure is needed to slow traffic near the pedestrian crossing.
Mayor Del Vecchio said it’s too early to commit to such a sign. The DOT first must approve the addition of the light, which then must go through the engineering process.

