By John Burton |
MONMOUTH BEACH —Borough police are giving a hard look at pedestrian and motorist safety and getting some input from state transportation professionals.
One part of the effort has the department participating in a study being conducted by the state Department of Transportation (NJDOT) looking at speed limits on Route 36/Ocean Avenue, a state highway running north to south through the oceanfront community.
According to NJDOT spokesman Daniel Triana, the state agency, began conducting a traffic and pedestrian study in June regarding Ocean Avenue in the borough. That request came from local police to see if a reduction in the speed limit, at least during the summer months, was warranted.
Police Chief Thomas Walsh said neighboring Sea Bright reduces the speed limit along portions of Ocean Avenue, lowering it from 40 to 35 miles per hour from Memorial Day to Labor Day, as the roadway becomes increasingly congested with vehicles, and pedestrians looking to make their way across the busy roadway to the beach.
A few years ago, NJDOT agreed to an overall reduction for that strip of roadway, lowering it from 45 to its current 40 mph.
“I get the question from residents all the time, why is Sea Bright seasonally lowered?” Walsh said. About a decade ago, police asked the NJDOT about just that and shortly after, state transportation officials rejected the idea.
“But in 10 years a lot has changed,” Walsh said, noting the increase in traffic and attendance at the area’s popular beaches, especially in light of the federally funded replenishment project a few years ago.
The state department agreed to conduct a study and, working with the police, has been undertaking it. State traffic engineers have been on-site reviewing police accident and incident reports, using radar guns to monitor vehicle speeds and recording the number of pedestrians at various crosswalks as part of the research.
“It sounds like they’re going to get pretty in depth,” Walsh noted.
The NJDOT evaluates a number of reasons for considering a speed limit change, according to Triana. They include such things as increasing or decreasing the number of traffic lanes; permanent changes to the area following construction, like a change in the geometry of the road; changes in land use; and changes to on-street parking.
State officials will also consider any traffic fatalities that had occurred. Thankfully – “And I’m knocking on wood here,” Walsh said – that hasn’t happened for a number of years.
Depending on the study’s outcome, the NJDOT may seek a resolution of support by the municipality’s governing body to move forward with any recommended changes, Triana explained in an email.
Walsh said the Borough Commission is supportive of this effort.
“I’m waiting to see what they say,” the chief said of the forthcoming state report, noting, “I’ll go with whatever their engineers, their safety coordinators recommend.”
But having the findings codified in a state report would at least give Walsh something to refer to when asked about it. “It would be nice to say from the standpoint of the state they’ve looked into it and this is why,” he said.
In addition to this study, borough police under Walsh’s direction, have been conducting an educational initiative aimed at drivers and pedestrians. Officers have been working undercover to crack down on drivers who fail to stop for those walking across the streets. They’re also concentrating on those pedestrians, making sure they adhere to the rules of the road, with officers giving warnings and literature to pedestrians explaining their responsibilities.
“It really is a shared responsibility between the police and pedestrians and the motorists,” he said. “Everybody has to be not distracted, have to use common sense…which can be in short supply sometimes.”
This article was first published in the July 27 – Aug. 3, 2017 print edition of The Two River Times.
