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:

Dear Mayor,

First, I want to thank you for your many years of dedicated public service to the residents of Lakewood. Your efforts and leadership are sincerely appreciated, and we wish you continued success and good health.

I wanted to bring to your attention an ongoing issue in the Westgate area. There have been frequent violations of the one-way street designations, with drivers regularly going the wrong way. This not only creates unnecessary traffic backups—undermining the purpose of the one-way system—but also poses a real safety risk for pedestrians and other drivers who are expecting traffic from only one direction.

Would it be possible for the township to look into this and consider increased enforcement or signage in that area? It would go a long way toward improving both safety and traffic flow in the community.

Thank you for your time and continued dedication to Lakewood.

— Concerned Resident

Response from Mayor Coles:

Good morning

I will ask LPD to look into additional enforcement. I will also ask engineering to look at the signage in the area and suggest improvements

Thanks

Ray

Question:

Thank you Mayor for all that you do for our town and for this incredible forum.

As I’m sure you are already aware, the corner of Faraday and Cross is extremely difficult to navigate during the morning, but frankly it is becoming chaotic and dangerous. Between the buses attempting to exit Shiras Chaim and cars trying to turn left from Faraday to Cross, it is not an intersection for the faint of heart !

I have also noticed that River /Oak is getting a traffic light, and would like to humbly request that the crossing guard stationed there be relocated to Faraday/ Cross . If he is already “taken,” please consider any other safety improvements asap. Check out that corner on any morning at 9 am and you’ll see the urgency.

Thank you!
SN

Response from Mayor Coles:

Good morning

I will ask the chief to look into assigning a crossing guard here. I always preface this by saying we are very short-handed with crossing guards

I will make another plea to folks to consider becoming a crossing guard. It is a great part or full-time job and is one of the most important positions we have in town

Thanks

Ray

Question:

For dozens of years we have been trying to get route 9 widened thinking that that is the cause of all the traffic in Lakewood meanwhile route 88 and all the streets off of it have been overlooked with houses being approved literally up to the road causing that now it can’t be widened . It is literally a parking lot whenever someone tries to make a left turn . Intersection of clover desperately needs a turning lane clover should be widened and all streets going in to it should be also widened. True that 88 is a county so it’s harder to deal with but local streets should be easier to get widened please address this asap!

Thank you for your attention to this matter!

Ray

Response from Mayor Coles:

Good morning

We are grateful that the state if finally working with us for much-needed traffic improvements in many parts of town. RT 9 is obviously the biggest project. What is currently in process and the additional upgrades the DOT agreed to start will create a great deal of traffic relief.

As I mentioned, we are working with DOT officials to make many other improvements. RT 88 is a Prince example. This is actually a state highway, not a county road. They are currently assessing improvements to many of the intersections along 88, especially at Clover. We are also working with the county to prioritize this, since Clover is a county road.

Thanks

Ray

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