Guest Column Winnie Scuteri Public opinion says get rid of plan to widen Route 520

Guest Column
Winnie Scuteri
Public opinion says get rid of plan to widen Route 520

The June 18 meeting held by the Monmouth County engineer regarding the county roads in Lincroft was a great success for the people of Lincroft.

Many thanks to the residents and Lincroft business owners who attended and who spoke.

The crowd filled the 360-seat theater at the Brookdale campus, with some people overflowing in the back. Resident after resident stepped up to the microphone and appealed for slower traffic and greater safety for children and seniors in the village. The support for slower vehicular speeds was unanimous. A recurrent theme was the need for greater safety for child and senior pedestrians and cyclists in the village. Not one person spoke in favor of the plan.

The Orth-Rodgers consultant, Norman Veitch met laughter midway through his presentation when he stated that speeding is not a serious problem on Newman Springs Road. He also dismissed the need for safe left turns from the Lincroft Elementary School since most of the children live east of the school anyway. He slipped in calling the road in front of the school a "highway" to the amusement of many people present.

Lincroft Village Green board member Abe Littenberg held up a 4-inch pile of petitions and announced there are more than 2,000 signatures in favor of slowing vehicular speeds and improving pedestrian access in Lincroft. Mayor Pat Parkinson got up and said the Township Committee is opposed to the widening of the road and recommended traffic calming instead. This is a huge gesture of support.

Middletown Planning Board member John Deus said the Planning Board is about to update the master plan and that the county engineer’s office should partner with it in developing future concept plans. This is long overdue.

The days of traffic engineers dictating how towns are planned are over. A resident who lives near Brookdale College suggested it’s now time for the college to come up with some innovative ideas on how to reduce the number of vehicles its facility generates in Lincroft. He recommended the college discontinue free parking and encourage public transportation, shuttle buses, and car pooling.

Some people suggested opening up a new (Garden State) Parkway entrance so that Lincroft is relieved of some Parkway traffic.

A member of the Holmdel Environmen-tal Commission voiced concern that this is just one step in the process of widening the road all the way to Marlboro.

She recommended that Middletown secure level four or five planning designation for this part of Middletown from the state planning commission and mentioned that most of Middletown is level 1, which allows maximum density.

The people of Lincroft voiced their disapproval of this plan very assertively that evening. There is no doubt now that the county should discard this plan and start from scratch with a comprehensive transportation, environmental and land use planning perspective, instead of narrowly focusing on vehicular traffic flow. And this time, the community must be involved from the very beginning.

Winnie Scuteri is a resident of Middletown