The following is an ‘Ask The Mayor’ question submitted to TLS, and the Mayor’s response. Email your questions for the Mayor to [email protected].
Question:
Hello,
At the intersection of Kennedy Blvd and Squankum Rd, vehicles often turn right on red from Kennedy to go to the left turn lane on Squankum (to County Line Rd), disregarding that they are obstructing the right lane from those who have the right of way.
Is no turn on red at Kennedy Blvd the solution?
(This area is often extremely congested, is there any analysis/solution in the planning?)
Thank you,
Leah
Response from Mayor Coles:
Good afternoon,
We have sent a request to the county to consider this suggestion.
Thanks for writing
Ray
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the answer is kennedy blvd is supposed to connect through the whole town from raintree to jackson. if it was like its supposed to be then there wouldnt be so much congestion on that corner or on county line rd either by park twin oaks and somerset etc… however some ppl wanted kennedy to remain a quieter block with dead ends so therefore all the traffic has to shift to county line
I think a better option is 2 right turning lanes so that the extreme right doesnt get blocked.
A no turn on red would back up traffic unnecessarily on Kennedy when there is no blockage.
I agree with the writer of this letter, However I would propose that anytime you implement a No Right Turn at an intersection, it should be limited to the daytime hours when there is the traffic issue. the sign should say no right turn between the hours of 7am to 10 pm. there is no need to limit the ability to smooth efficient travel during the night time hours when there is no congestion. This should really be at many intersections where you have to restrict turns etc. due to congestion , these restrictions should be lifted during the quiet hours. please can you forward this to the Mayor (unless he reads the comments on TLS)
THANK YOU
If we get someone from the County and someone from the State to come on here once in awhile we can a cut out the middleman.
I agree with “in the neighborhood”
Hey Mayor Coles, Howabout the police give out tickets for Traffic violations like blocking intersections, failure to yield and other violations that are know to specifically cause accidents and traffic. That is the best solution, we have 500 accidents a month here, we can do better.
I Agree 100% with Eli.
We need to open Kennedy!
Please put the needs of the Town above a couple of local people.
Please open Kennedy!
Kenneddy was supposed to be opened. I have emailed the Mayer many times to open Kennedy but the Mayor didn’t respond because of the corroption that happened to put the detention basin on Apple steet. VOTE OUT ALL EXISTING OFFICIALS.
Besides for opening Kennedy,
DO NOT put a no turn sign on Kennedy. It would just back up traffic.
If people aquire some pathence alot of issues will be solved.
I have personally experienced both sides of this intersection. The cost of making changes are expensive and carry a monetary consequence as well as leveraging resources for some discomfort of people who can learn patience instead.
I always like reading some of the responses here, especially when people declare things as facts. Kennedy Blvd was originally known as Raceway Blvd where they actually had horse races. It was never meant to be an alternative to County Line Rd (just look at any map from the 1930’s). In fact County Line Rd was a two lane road with no curbs going into the late 1950’s with the western side pretty much like the boondocks. For those that want to resurrect the fable and continue Kennedy into Jackson, good luck with that. You’d have to condemn well over 100 homes, a boys school and a large girls school as well. If you look to go around these homes and schools you run right into wetlands. So leave the mayor alone since it will never happen.
If you look at old maps you will see that there used to be a paper street.
The town is to blame for letting people build on the paper street instead of making it a street.
Eli, the Township/County tried for years to try to open Kennedy, across the tracks. The problem was that needs the approval of NJ Transit and NJDOT. They would not grant that approval unless another grade crossing in Lakewood was closed. Since it was not practical to close any existing grade crossing, the County abandoned their push to open Kennedy and constructed that basin. It was a County right of way, so it was their decision.
As someone who drives that intersection very very often I do agree something must be done. However, just making a no turn on red is not sufficient as all the people driving northbound on Squankum always block the box through a red light not allowing anyone to turn from Kennedy Blvrd.
I will not say that I have a solution I agree it’s really complicated but let’s make sure whatever solution is developed takes both directions into account. The timing of the lights may help as well
@Brian
With the right amount of pressure the County can make a change. THOUSANDS of pepole are inconvenienced EVERYDAY. It makes no sense at all. AGAIN – VOTE OUT ALL THOSE OFFICIALLS.
even if you only open Kennedy partially (wherever it is still possible) (like frome sommerset to Brook Rd.) it will still alleviate some of the congestion from County line