The “majority of drivers” are driving within the 25 miles per hour speed limit on East Welling Avenue, according to results of a speed study conducted through the Hopewell Township Police Department.
Police Chief James Rosso briefed the Hopewell Township Committee and public on Dec. 5 of the most recent study from the beginning of October, which included school days.
“What we are finding is that a large majority or [85%] of people who travel on the roadway are within the speed limit or less than the 25 miles per hour (mph) limit. That is what the results showed,” Rosso said.
The chief said there were concerns about adding traffic mitigation or safety mitigation marks on the roadway.
“What our studies have shown is that [the traffic and safety mitigations are] not a necessity right now to add those to the roadway,” he said. “We will continue to monitor as complaints come in, but at this point, with the speeds we are seeing in our speed studies, there is no necessity to add any speed mitigation or traffic mitigation devices on the road there.”
The last speed study on East Welling Avenue was conducted a year ago during the summer months. Both studies ran for 10 days.
During the study in October, there were about 1,200 vehicles looked at during the timeframe, according to Rosso.
The speed data analysis document showed that 85% of drivers were driving 24 mph. The fastest speed on the roadway during the timeframe reaching 30 mph.
When conducting a speed study, the police department puts a camouflage box that goes on a pole or tree where the radars inside will track and pick up vehicles that are coming to the device and away from it.
The results were pretty much the same with the most recent study and the study conducted a year ago, according to Rosso.
Hopewell Township Mayor Courtney Peters-Manning said the speed study was the first step in a process to determine whether the township will add sidewalks to its portion of East Welling Avenue.
“We had a request from some of the residents of East Welling to add sidewalks due to speeding and concerns from pedestrians,” she said. “We had other neighbors that did not want sidewalks.”
Peters-Manning noted that as a first step the Township Committee decided to ask Rosso and the Hopewell Township Police Department to investigate traffic on East Welling.