Some speed humps to become driver-friendly

BY SUE MORGAN
Staff Writer

EATONTOWN — A few of the borough’s well-known speed humps will soon be shrinking a little, but expanding in width.

But those motorists who have grumbled about the humps that they have had to navigate in the past few weeks since they were installed on selected borough streets can still expect to get jolted a bit, even with the alterations.

As for those residents who like the humps, engineers for the borough promise that they will still be effective in slowing down traffic, particularly in residential areas.

In response to some of the feedback received by borough officials about the new traffic-calming devices, the speed humps in two areas will be converted into speed tables within about two weeks, according to Ed Broberg, of Middletown-based T&M Associates, Eatontown’s engineering firm.

As test cases, the humps now existing on White Street south of Broad Street and those present at all four points of the intersection of South Street and Clinton Avenue West will be reconfigured as speed tables, essentially by milling down their total height from 3 3/4 inches to 3 inches, Broberg reported to the Borough Council during its Oct. 5 workshop meeting.

The same humps, which now measure about 12 feet wide, will be elongated on both sides by 5 feet on each end to 22 feet total, Broberg said.

The changes are still close enough to national engineering standards and should force vehicular traffic to slow down to 25 miles per hour or less, he said.

“I propose to test a change in the humps to make them more driver-friendly,” Broberg said.

The borough still has money available from the funds forwarded to T&M when the traffic-calming project first began last summer, Broberg said.

Those funds came into the borough’s coffers via a monetary contribution from the recently opened Lowe’s Home Improvement Center on Route 35.

As a condition of its site plan approval, Lowe’s agreed to help fund a traffic-calming project along borough streets, particularly those closest to its location just south of Clinton Avenue West.

Lowe’s has delivered the second half of the total $200,000 contribution toward the traffic calming initiative, according to Borough Business Administrator Michael Trotta.

Once that amount is depleted, however, no other funds are available at this time to be used for the traffic-calming project, Trotta said in reply to a question from Mayor Gerald Tarantolo.

Speed humps are now situated on South Street as it runs between Wyckoff Road and Route 35.

The humps have also been installed on Lewis Street, Reynolds Drive, Buttonwood Drive and a portion of Grant Avenue running past the Memorial and Vetter schools.

The humps were installed on those streets after residents living along those municipal thoroughfares complained about “cut-through” traffic speeding in residential neighborhoods to avoid the main highways, Tarantolo has said.

However, since the humps were installed, several residents of Clinton Avenue East, located off the east side of Route 35, have been appealing to Tarantolo and the council to place the devices on their street as well.

One of those residents, Jim Pagano, asked Tarantolo during the meeting’s public portion why Clinton Avenue East has not been fitted with speed humps.

“Why weren’t we considered?” Pagano said. “Everyone who lives in this town knows [Clinton Avenue East] is a cut-through.”

The streets were selected according to how much residents complained about speeding traffic, Tarantolo replied.

“We got numerous complaints from Reynolds Drive. We got input from Clinton Avenue on the west side,” Tarantolo said. “If we had input from [Clinton Avenue East], it would have been a priority.”

Should funds be available at a later time, Clinton Avenue East will be “a priority” for traffic-calming, he added.

Though Tarantolo maintains that resident feedback on the speed humps has been largely positive, another resident, Joe Carey of Eton Place, presented results of an informal survey of 65 fellow residents that he recently conducted.

Of the 65 surveyed, who Carey said live in various sections of the town, 54 respondents indicated that they dislike the humps, nine approved of them and two were unsure.

“One person said it’s overkill. Some people said they were almost rear-ended stopping for the humps,” Carey reported.

Nonetheless, Tarantolo maintained that the humps have done the job at slowing traffic.

“I personally welcome all of the complaints,” Tarantolo said. “If we save one little kid from getting hit, it’s worth it.”

Another Clinton Avenue East resident, Vincent Marrone, countered Carey’s findings.

“Ask the people who have the humps on their streets if they like them. They do,” Marrone said.

The traffic-calming project is still a work in progress that could be modified at some point, according to Tarantolo, who has stated that the speed humps are the only device that has worked to slow down traffic.