An anticipated two-week closure of the railroad crossing at Sycamore Avenue in Little Silver wrapped up after just nine days over the weekend. Work on the North Jersey Coast Line of the NJ Transit rail system began July 7, prompting traffic jams that spread to Shrewsbury. By 6:30 a.m. Saturday, the barricades were lifted, Little Silver police Lieutenant Joe Mazza said. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
Traffic at Rumson Road and Branch Avenue in Little Silver was stop and go Friday morning. Below, a detour map from New Jersey Transit. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
It’s the first full day of Little Silver’s traffic shuffle, as work on the New Jersey Transit crossing at the borough train station begins an estimated two-week blockage of a main artery through town and into Shrewsbury.
Amid the vexing backups on area roads in sweltering heat, commuter tempers seem to be cool for now.
“It wasn’t as bad as I thought, which is surprising,” said Elena Acuna, who commutes by rail to New York City three times a week. “We’ll see. It’s just kind of annoying.”
Workers on Prospect Avenue in Little Silver spread absorbent material to soak up hydraulic oil spilled earlier this morning. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
A hydraulic oil spill from a garbage truck has shutdown some of Little Silver’s heavily traveled roads and prompted multiple detours throughout the borough.
The spill, reported at about 11:10 a.m. Tuesday, came from an M&S Waste Services garbage truck, which was traveling from Fair Haven. It leaked oil through the heart of the business district, all the way from Church Street, onto Prospect Avenue and just past Sycamore Avenue to Hickory Lane, Police Chief Dan Shaffery told redbankgreen.
Those roads are partially closed while local and Monmouth County workers lay down absorbents to dry out the roadways, he said.
“It’s like an ice rink out there,” Shaffery said.
A home on Bingham Avenue in Rumson displays a row of miniature American flags in recognition of Memorial Day, which is Monday. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
Memorial Day is this Monday, signifying not just a long weekend and the unofficial start to the summer season, but most importantly a holiday to pay tribute to the American soldiers who’ve died in service to the country.
Here’s a roundup of Decoration Day events around the redbankgreen.
A Tinton Falls home was the site of an episode of DIY Network’s “Man Caves” show. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
When Tara and Brian Manley moved into their home on Sycamore Avenue in Tinton Falls nearly two years ago, there were plenty of projects to keep them busy.
In that time, Tara Manley said, the couple has done a pretty good job getting all but one space into the shape they’d like: the basement. Or, more appropriately, the bomb shelter.
“It actually has a bomb shelter,” Brian Manley said. “It was built during the Cold War time.”
He plays it down a little, calling it an empty concrete slab for storage. His wife describes it as a sad, frat-party room.
“You have to think college frat basement, like mostly cinderblocks, real dark and dingy,” Tara Manley, 24, said. “It kind of smelled weird.”
Regardless, it was the one space of the house that the Manleys admit they were hesitant to touch.
So they called in a contractor/TV host and former football defensive tackle to do it for them.
Deer on the lawn of an Elm Lane residence earlier this month. (Click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
Most mornings, Brian Hall wakes up to find the motion sensor outside his home flashing. He’s gotten accustomed to it, much as his wife, Suzanne, has gotten used to her flower garden doubling as a feeding trough.
In the year-and-a-half that the couple have lived off Sycamore Avenue in Shrewsbury, deer have been as much a part of their neighborhood as the people who live next door.
“There definitely is a lot of deer,” Brian Hall said.
Now, as the ubiquitous artiodactyls appear to be causing a larger threat to public health and safety, the borough council is looking to residents for input on how to bring the increasing deer population under control.
A message board outside Shrewsbury’s municipal complex on Sunday.
Motorists who use a busy stretch of Sycamore Avenue in Shrewsbury may encounter a detour Monday.