SAYREVILLE — Public works employees removed a “No Turn on Red” sign on MacArthur Avenue last week, to the relief of many residents.
Nellie Malet, who lives on the road, has long opposed the sign and has brought up the issue to the Borough Council several times. On April 26, she told the council that the sign causes an immense amount of traffic backup, to the point where she is unable to pull out of her driveway. The problem is worst during peak hours and on weekends.
“That sign stops traffic from continuously moving, so when you have trucks and cars, it backs up and backs up,” she said. “It affects me and it affects my neighbors.”
The ordinance that prohibits turning against red lights in that area was written “well over two decades ago,” Mayor Kennedy O’Brien said at the meeting. However, Borough Engineer Jay Cornell of CME Associates noted that the sign itself was not installed until last year, at which time residents started to complain about the traffic backup issues.
CME Associates was asked to conduct a study earlier this year as to whether the sign was necessary. Cornell had concluded from that review that the sign was unnecessary, based on Department of Transportation cri- teria. Upon the conclusion of CME’s study, the council adopted an ordinance earlier this year stating that the sign was unnecessary and ordering it to be removed.
The sign was never removed, however, because Middlesex County informed the borough that “it had a concern” with the sign’s removal, according to Cornell. The sign is on borough property, but feeds cars onto the county-owned Washington Road.
Sayreville Police Chief Edward Szkodny noted at the April 26 meeting that the borough was unsure whether it had county approval to remove the sign.
After Malet brought the issue up at the meeting, O’Brien recommended the council take a vote to see whether its members thought the sign should be removed by public works the following morning, despite the county’s concerns. The council then voted 5-1 to have the sign removed, with Councilwoman Lisa Eicher voting it down. Eicher said she was concerned that taking the sign down without county approval would present the borough with an unnecessary liability.
With the majority vote to remove the sign, the crowded council chambers erupted in applause, and the sign was removed April 27.
“That sign was not necessary,” Malet said. “Although I’m the only one who was up there complaining, everyone was happy for that sign to come down.”