Traffic study slated for Lincroft Village area Rose Street residents complain shoppers use their street as a shortcut

Traffic study slated for Lincroft Village area
Rose Street residents complain shoppers use their street as a shortcut

MIDDLETOWN — The traffic situation on Rose Street isn’t so rosy.

The situation also seems to hold true for other streets situated off Route 520 (Newman Springs Road) in the Lincroft section of the township.

Rose Street residents have been calling traffic on their street a nightmare. They presented a petition against the problem at the Aug. 20 Township Committee meeting. In response to their complaints, township officials have agreed to try to find a solution to what seems to be an evolving problem.

Mayor Joan Smith said she expects a cooperative, successful solution.

"These residents are an enthusiastic, vocal group. To be so active in your community is a good thing," she said. "We’re taking the complaints seriously and instituting a comprehensive traffic study using their input, along with that of businesses."

The study will include input from the township’s planning department and the police traffic safety division, she said.

"This is the first I had heard of the Rose Street problem," Smith said in an interview outside of the council meeting. "I was, however, aware that there had been problems with the traffic flow in and out of the two commercial sides of Newman Springs Road [Route 520] where residential streets also run.

"Rose Street is off some of those business exits and entrances. Apparently what has been happening is that people are using the streets next to those commercial properties as shortcuts to other major roads, like Swimming River [Road]."

Rose Street runs along the south side of Route 520, across from the eastern end Acme shopping center, and connects with Swimming River Road. Another shopping center is located west of the Rose Street intersection.

Some residents thought that designating Rose Street a northerly one-way street would solve the problem. However, Planning Director Anthony Mercantante and other officials thought that a better solution might be to work with businesses to close off some of the extra exits and entrances to discourage patrons from cutting through lots and the side streets that border them.

Making Rose Street a one-way street would probably enhance the chance of traffic shifting to parallel streets for quicker access to thoroughfares, Mercantante said.

An alternate remedy to the problem, he said, would be to construct another driveway accessing the shopping center on the south side of Route 520, across from Acme and toward the rear, that would give patrons access to Swimming River Road.

Rose Street resident Sal Sacco called attention at the meeting to other traffic problems that exist along Route 520.

"The Lincroft firehouse brings in visitors all hours of the day and night," he said, making it a point that he was not complaining about noise. The firehouse is on the southeast corner of the Rose Street-Route 520 intersection.

Sacco also drew attention to a commuter bus lot on Route 520 that he said brings a lot of traffic and off-hours disturbances to the area.