By Alli Tretina
HIGHLANDS – Summer traffic heading to Sandy Hook, part of the Gateway National Recreation Area, has long frustrated residents and officials in Highlands and surrounding municipalities, with gridlock creating public safety risks and delaying emergency services, they said.
This summer, local leaders pressed for modern solutions to the problem, but said their calls for change have gone unanswered.
The Gateway National Recreation Area, established in 1972, spans 27,000 acres across New York and New Jersey, offering beaches, historic sites and recreational facilities. Sandy Hook, a popular unit in New Jersey, draws roughly 2 million visitors annually, contributing to its status as part of the third most-visited national park in the U.S., according to the National Park Service website.
But the influx of beachgoers, particularly during summer weekends, clogs Route 36 and local roads, creating bottlenecks at toll plazas and entry points.
Highlands Police Chief Robert Burton said the issue has persisted for years. “What we feel is that, with modern technology, there must be a better way they can do it,” Burton said. He suggested parking kiosks and better traffic-flow management within Sandy Hook’s seven miles of roadway to alleviate congestion impacting Highlands, Middletown and Sea Bright. “Until that happens, we are going to continue to suffer, as well as the surrounding municipalities,” he added.
Highlands Mayor Carolyn Broullon emphasized the public safety risks. “If emergency services can’t get through to somebody, it’s a huge issue,” Broullon said. “All I want is the public to be safe. This is a dangerous situation.” She said she has reached out to higher-level officials without success, leaving the borough at an impasse.
The Highlands First Aid Squad faces significant challenges navigating the gridlock. Squad Chief Jay Terwilliger said response times are extended, particularly during peak summer traffic, which can stretch nearly a mile along Route 36. “It does make for extended response times, if we have to fight through traffic,” Terwilliger said, noting safety concerns for both responders and residents.
But Sandy Hook officials say there has been some improvement in traffic congestion after certain new measures have been implemented.
“The traffic congestion entering Sandy Hook, Gateway National Recreation Area, National Park Service, has significantly reduced due to a cashless, fully automated system at the fee booths, which started in 2023,” said the park’s public affairs officer, Daphne Yun, in response to the local concerns.
“The cashless system, which already provides for pre-payment through recreation.gov, has reduced the entrance times through the fee booths, resulting in a reduction in the number of days when traffic back-ups occur,” she said. “Additionally, Sandy Hook staff have been actively addressing traffic issues at the fee booths by engaging with vehicles prior to entering the fee booths through the use of QR codes.”
She said in past years, traffic back-ups occurred at the Sandy Hook fee booths almost every weekend. Since the automated, cashless system went into place in 2023, traffic back-ups have lessened. In 2024, there were minimal traffic back-ups. So far this season, the only significant traffic backup occurred over the July Fourth weekend, which is typically one of the busiest beach days throughout the Jersey Shore, Yun noted.
She said traffic backed up from 8:15 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, July 4, and from 9:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sunday, July 6. There were no traffic back-ups Saturday, July 5, she said.
“Gateway National Recreation Area will continue to work towards reducing traffic congestion and will review other future potential improvements to address concerns,” Yun added.
However, locals in Highlands say the problem is still a major concern.
Rosemary Ryan, president of the Highlands First Aid Squad, described the situation as a “nightmare,” especially on weekends like the Fourth of July.
Ryan lives on a road parallel to the highway, and said she has had to walk to the squad’s headquarters because traffic prevented her from driving. “Getting the ambulance through traffic is sometimes a nightmare,” she said, recalling instances of driving down the center lane to reach hospitals like Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank. “Our biggest fear is if something happens on the weekend and it’s for a resident along the highway and we wouldn’t be able to get to them.”
Recent data on the National Park Planner website noted that on busy summer weekends, parking lots at Sandy Hook, which range from 300 to 1,000 spaces, often fill up by noon, leading to park closures for new arrivals. One TripAdvisor review noted that “the bridge backs up for miles for hours on weekends,” with weekday visits recommended to avoid crowds.
The National Park Service website explains the electronic tolling Yun referred to. According to its website, it has implemented electronic tolling (no cash accepted) and real-time traffic monitoring, with daily parking fees of $20 for vehicles 20 feet and under and seasonal passes available from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Despite these measures, Seastreak commuter ferries, arriving from Manhattan, add to the crowd unpredictability, officials say.
Chief Burton said meetings with Sandy Hook representatives have yielded no progress, with suggestions like parking kiosks ignored.
The park’s aging infrastructure and growing visitation continue to strain roadways, prompting calls for long-term transportation planning. U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6), said in a statement that transportation upgrades at Sandy Hook are a continuing goal.
“I am always working to bring sustainable transportation improvements to Sandy Hook – whether it’s the popular walking and bike path at Sandy Hook or helping to secure $55 million for high-speed zero-emission ferries that will go between Highlands and Manhattan,” he said.
As a National Park Service “gateway community,” Highlands has unique needs, he said.
“There has always been an issue with traffic at the entrance to Sandy Hook, but we are taking seriously the possibility that the problem may be exacerbated due to the Trump Administration laying off a quarter of National Parks staff. In the past few years, my office has met with both local officials and park staff on a regular basis to push for changes to streamline entrance to the park. Unfortunately, with the new Trump Administration, communication has been nonexistent,” Pallone said.
He said he would like to see a traffic study and assessment of permanent solutions. “But, simply put, Gateway NRA has (fewer) employees to run it this year than in the past,” Pallone said. He said he has sent two letters to the federal Department of the Interior, but “they have been completely ignored about Gateway’s operations.”
Meanwhile, Pallone said, “We are working in a resource-constrained environment. This fall, I will vote against a Republican-led bill which slashes the Park Service’s funding by $213 million and the Department of Transportation’s funding by nearly $4.5 billion for fiscal year 2026.”
But, on a “more positive note, last year, Congress passed and, in January, President Biden signed into law the EXPLORE Act which seeks to reduce infrastructure and accessibility pressures on National Park System gateway communities like Highlands,” Pallone said.
Regardless of the reasons for the traffic issues, Ryan, the Highlands First Aid Squad president and a lifelong Highlands resident, said the problem has worsened over time. “There has to be a better way for people to get into Sandy Hook,” she said.
The article originally appeared in the August 14 – 20, 2025 print edition of The Two River Times.
