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:
Good afternoon Mr. Mayor,
As the town grows and the infrastructure needs to grow as well, we find ourselves with a lot of road closures daily. I am very thankful that you try your best to have them done on weekends and evenings whenever possible. That being said, there are still many (including emergency work) that happen during the day. This causes significant traffic in those areas and long detours for people who could have planned accordingly. Also, as an emergency responder myself, I can tell you that there have been countless times that my response to an emergency has been significantly delayed due to not being adequately informed.
I would like to ask if there is any way to keep the town updated in real-time on any road closures. This should include emergency work, information for local vs. through traffic, and emergency vehicle accessibility. This should be updated 24 hrs a day.
Even if it means hiring an additional Township/traffic and safety employee, I think that it’s something this town needs already, and it would be tax dollars well spent.
My idea is as follows. An app should be created to view all ongoing road closures and exact details and timing. And if there are any last-minute road closures, it should be easy for on-duty officers to have them submitted in real-time. You can even allow a moderated community submission (like Waze offers).
Please let me know if this is possible or if something else is in the works.
Respectfully,
A concerned and hopeful resident and emergency responder in Lakewood
Response from Mayor Coles:
Thanks for taking the time to write.
I like the idea about an app. I will ask our township manager, Engineer and Chief Meyer to see if this is something we can put together.
Tale Care
Ray
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Have a question for the Mayor? Send it to [email protected]
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Great idea! I second the motion
Isn’t this what WAZE is all about in general?
Waze directed me into a big accident scene, when it could have easily kept me away a few years ago. More recently Waze directed me to a road closed for construction, Drake Rd, causing a lot of stress rerouting, because there was no officer directing the resulting traffic backup at White St and Cross Street. So I agree that a regularly updated traffic app would be helpful and appreciated
Thanks for a great idea.
my question is….will anyone follow up with this post? will we know what the results of the mayors discussions are so we can have further input and tweak the idea if need be??
can the mayor let us know how we will be informed of implementing this idea or scratching it??
will he respond to the TLS and update us??
I think we need an app for this…
Google already has a Maps Content Partners program for municipalities to upload their mass data in real time. That would be extremely useful to anyone using Google Maps. BTW I always drive with Google Maps on so I can help fellow drivers know the real time traffic conditions of the roads I’m travelling on automatically. It’s a Chesed at no cost!
Another idea is to have a township coordinator in charge of road work schedules to try and mitigate their overall impact during rush hour.
Doesn’t need to be an app (probably expensive and would take a while)
how about a dedicated section on Township website? I’ll bet TLS would be happy to link to it or Republish the info.
We neeed something easily accessible while out and about
With text alerts such as TR does, you don’t need a smart phone. Just join with your phone number. Done. No coding, just a person to get the message, type and send.
What about people without smartphone. how about sending a text message when a road is closed
I just can’t believe I made it from Walmart in Howell
through the town of Lakewood in 8 minutes all this week….WOW..Something is not right
@Mark
It was Passover. On 5 out of 8 days we don’t drive, so it was like having the roads to yourself for 5 Saturdays in one week and change.
Yes. It’s always good to find ways to improve traffic during schools commencement and dismissal. It’s not just us, it’s vehicles from surrounding towns as well.
However: Lakewoods growth had slowed down significantly since Brooklyn’s 7 digit (over $1,000,000.00) housing prices have arrived here.
At least post signs that roads are closed ahead, so that people can reroute. It has happened many times that I could’ve taken other routes if there had been signage that roads ahead were closed.
It would not be fair to penalize those that follow Halacha & don’t use the Internet or Text (I’m sure the Mekilim [Read: Maskilim] have valid reasons [Read: Yetzer Hara]).
Lakewood should hire a cadre of employees whose job will be to go door to door informing residents about any road or traffic issues as they arise.
How will this be paid for?
1. A toll on the new bridge over the lake.
2. Reduce garbage collection to twice a month.
3. Distribute shovels & eliminate government snow removal.
4. Tax the Yeshivas to have these employees also work as “Veckers”
In the zchus of Buchrim being on time for Davening Lakewood will become like the Bais Hamikdash on the Shalosh Regalim & expand with room for all to comfortably do their Avoda.
Not judgemental at all, are you????
How does an app penalize anyone? It helps those who have the technology.
I was just talking about this last week.
Quite a few of us second this.