RED BANK: DOT POLE BLOCKS SIDEWALK
Perhaps there was some logic to installing a pedestrian crossing switch in the middle of a sidewalk, in front of a senior-living complex no less. Because that’s just what the New Jersey Department Transportation did recently on Riverside Avenue in Red Bank as part of its Route 35 makeover project.
What’s Going On Here? Read on. (Photo by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge.)
RED BANK: HOTEL DELAY REQUEST REJECTED
A rendering of the proposed Hampton Inn, with the former VNA building at right. (Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
In a move that could torpedo a hotly debated hotel at the northern entry to Red Bank, the planning board Monday night shot down a request by the would-be developer for more time to get the project in the ground.
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RED BANK: ROADWORK UNDER THE LIGHTS
Nighttime travelers along Route 35 in Red Bank and neighboring towns have encountered lane closures, detours and lots of floodlights in recent weeks.
What’s Going On Here? Read on. (Photo by John T. Ward.)
RED BANK: LIGHT ‘NOT FEASIBLE’ SAYS DOT
A car, at right, waits for a break in the traffic to turn onto Riverside Avenue from Bodman Place. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Creating a new signal-controlled intersection on a busy stretch of Red Bank highway near the Molly Pitcher Inn is “not feasible,” according to the New Jersey Department of Transportation.
Still, Mayor Pasquale Menna is hoping the DOT will reconsider its oft-stated position if and when there’s a new owner of the former VNA Health Group headquarters building, located on a problematic corner, he told redbankgreen Monday.
RED BANK: COUNCIL PRESSES FOR LIGHT
A car, at center, waits for a break in the traffic to turn onto Riverside Avenue from Bodman Place. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Hoping to nudge the New Jersey Department of Transportation to act, the Red Bank council adopted a resolution Wednesday night calling for a traffic light on a curving part of a road that Mayor Pasquale Menna says motorists “zoom” down.
FAIR HAVEN: WALK & BIKE PLAN ON TABLE
Among changes recommended in the draft plan is an expansion of sidewalk coverage in town. Below, Councilman Jon Peters with residents at Monday’s event. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Fair Haven residents and business got their latest opportunity Monday night to weigh in on host of walking-and-biking infrastructure proposals that could serve as a blueprint for decades to come.
The informational session, which preceded the borough council’s regular semimonthly meeting, was focused on the latest version of a draft document called the Pedestrian and Bike Active Transportation Plan.
FAIR HAVEN / RUMSON: BIKE LANES AWAIT
Both a bicyclist and an approaching a jogger appeared shy recently about using a new bike lane on the Little Silver side of Harding Road, seen here from Tower Hill in Red Bank. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
To go along with their shiny new Christmas bikes, cyclists on the Greater Red Bank Green have a new riding course: 2.8 miles of freshly minted bike lanes through Rumson and Fair Haven.
Marked with share-the-road “sharrow” icons, heavy white lines and signage, the lanes call attention to the presence of bikers in an effort to improve safety, says Fair Haven Mayor Ben Lucarelli, who advocated for them.
FAIR HAVEN: LUCARELLI PUMPS FOR BIKE LANE
Mayor Ben Lucarelli heads to D.C. this week to sharpen his biker-and-pedestrian safety campaign. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Anyone who’s heard Fair Haven Mayor Ben Lucarelli talk about biking safety knows it’s an issue he’s passionate about.
And listening to him talk about the biking-and-walking safety program he’s attending in Washington, D.C., this week, you’d think he was charging down to the capitol on two wheels.
“I would, if I had the time,” Lucarelli told redbankgreen on Tuesday.
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RED BANK: FAUX BRICK CROSSWALKS REMOVED
State highway workers removed crumbling fake brick crosswalks from two intersections near the north end of Maple Avenue in Red Bank Friday after officials complained about safety concerns. “They said they made a mistake using it,” said Councilwoman Cindy Burnham, referring to state Department of Transportation officials, with whom she met on the issue recently. (Photo above by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge)
SEA BRIGHT: OCEAN AVENUE REOPENED
State Department of Transportation dumptrucks leaving Sea Bright at midday Monday after several days of sand removal work. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The northern stretch of Ocean Avenue in Sea Bright, closed to all but local traffic over the weekend because of seawall breaches, reopened Monday afternoon.
But damage to the wall caused by unusually high tides following last Wednesday’s snowstorm means that the borough may be holding its breath during similar weather events until the wall is repaired, Councilman Read Murphy tells redbankgreen.
BAY YIELDS RUMSON WOMAN’S LOVE LETTERS
World War II-era love letters written by a former Rumson woman to her future husband washed ashore in Sandy Hook Bay after Hurricane Sandy, according to various news accounts.
The letters were written over five years, beginning in 1942, by Dorothy Fallon to her boyfriend, Lynn Farnham, who was then living in Vermont.
MAPLE AVENUE LIGHTS TO BE TWEAKED
Red Bank police will roll out a portable flashing sign warning motorists not to block intersections at the north end of Route 35/Maple Avenue, Captain Darren McConnell tells redbankgreen.
But fixing traffic tie-ups in the vicinity of new traffic lights at West Front Street and the West Street/White Street intersection “is less a matter of enforcement than it is about the timing of the lights,” McConnell says.
LIGHTS ARE ON, BUT SIGNS A PROBLEM?
For the first time, cars in the right lane on northbound Maple Avenue are allowed to turn left onto West Front Street.
First, the news: the new traffic lights at Maple Avenue and Water/White streets in Red Bank have finally been switched on.
Captain Darren McConnell, head of the traffic safety unit of the borough police department, announced the activation this afternoon.
But the recent $1.54 million installation of lights and other improvements at that intersection and the one just north of it, at Maple and West Front Street, have prompted some concern among redbankgreen readers, who think new signage could cause trouble.
INTERSECTION FIX BEHIND SCHEDULE
Workers getting ready to install a light stanchion at Maple Avenue and West Front Street earlier this week.
The long-awaited reconfiguration of traffic lights at two problematic intersections in Red Bank won’t be finished next week as planned.