BY ELAINE VAN DEVELDE
Staff Writer
Drivers will soon be taking it slower on at least one Middletown road. After more than a year of haggling over traffic concerns on Swimming River Road, the Monmouth County Division of Traffic Safety Engineering has agreed to lower the speed limit on the road from 40 to 35 miles per hour for a trial period of 12 months. Still, Lincroft area residents complained at the Jan. 20 Township Committee meeting that yet another speed problem needed to be rectified on Leedsville Drive. None mentioned the Swimming River Road trial reduction.
The Swimming River Road measure, which the same group of residents fought for, is expected to be approved soon by the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders in response to township officials’ requests, and those residents’ complaints that the road is a safety hazard.
"The county engineer’s willingness to take a second look at our assertion that a reduced speed limit will improve traffic safety along this stretch of residential road is great news," Mayor Joan Smith said.
Since Swimming River is a county road, the county had to approve and enact any changes to it, including lowering a speed limit.
The Swimming River Road speed-limit reduction test will span the section of the road between Newman Springs Road and Majestic South upon approval of the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders and the posting of appropriate signs, county Engineer Theodore A. Giannechini said.
The accident and traffic data in the area warrant the speed reduction, Smith said. The speed change will become permanent once the traffic-study information from the trial period supports the change.
In analyzing data to support the reduction, county officials will need to determine if the reduced speed limit and its strict enforcement has any effect on the number of accidents in the road.
Committeewoman Rosemarie D. Peters worked closely with the residents on the problem during her tenure as mayor last year.
"We look forward to continue working with the county to find better ways to control the ever-increasing flow of traffic in the area," said Smith, who has served on the Lincroft Village Task Force, an advisory body that consisted of residents, business owners and township officials.
Nonetheless, Lincroft resident Winnie Scutieri persisted in asking that the committee set aside 20 minutes at its next workshop meeting to let a local residents’ group present speeding problems in the area and alternatives to curb those problems. She said the alternatives should be tested on Leedsville Road. "We have put a lot of work into this and just ask that you set some time aside for us to present this information to all five of you at the same time," Scutieri said.
Smith said the group should have an initial meeting with Township Administrator Robert Czech and Police Chief John Pollinger to discuss remedies. That meeting, Smith said, was in the works for the near future.
The residents disagreed with Smith and said they wanted to skip that phase entirely and move on to a full-scale presentation of their own plan before the committee.
"That’s just not how it is done," Deputy Mayor Patrick Parkinson said. "We have to follow a certain procedure to do this sort of thing. We have no problem at all meeting with you and we will take your information to the appropriate township professionals for review. Then, after that, we will decide how to proceed and, perhaps, there will be a presentation. But we’ve told you that you will have that meeting with the administrator and chief."
"We have every intention of addressing all traffic concerns like this," Smith said. "Including this Leedsville Drive problem."
Residents gave Smith a list of state towns which have employed varying measures to slow down traffic.
Speed humps were brought up as an idea, which Committeeman Raymond O’Grady said may be a problem for snow plowing and may damage cars. The residents pointed out that there are speed humps on Leighton Avenue in neighboring Red Bank. Smith said that, nonetheless, the material would have to first be reviewed and the problem examined by the township’s administrator, engineers and police department.