Emergency responders working to save a Staten Island woman who was run over at the intersection in 2010. She later died of her injuries. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank officials are backing a Monmouth County push for safety upgrades to the intersection of Broad Street and East Bergen Place, where a Staten Island woman was run over by an SUV four years ago.
In a July 2 letter to the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority, Mayor Pasquale Menna gets behind a request by Monmouth County for funding to improve the intersection, where Menna said there have been at least 34 accidents since 2010.
In his letter, Menna says the intersection is plagued by “operational and safety deficiencies that have caused numerous vehicular and pedestrian crashes in recent years.” Among them were seven accidents involving pedestrians, including one fatality, Menna wrote.
Alla Tsiring, 44, a bookeeper at a local marine engineering firm, was struck while crossing Broad from west to east at East Bergen Place on the afternoon of February 22, 2010.
She died two months later from her injuries. The driver, Diana Palma of Red Bank, was charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian and careless driving.
Menna wrote that the traffic signals at the intersection are five decades old, outdated and damaged from having been struck numerous times.
The county’s plan includes pedestrian upgrades that comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as upgraded signage and “improved visibility for both pedestrians and vehicles,” Menna wrote.
Broad Street is a county road from its southern end at Newman Springs Road to the intersection of Harding Road/Reckless Place.
Here’s Menna’s letter: Red Bank NJTPA support letter 070214