In welcome news for many Lakewood Township residents, last Friday, Ocean County installed a new traffic signal at the very busy intersection of Prospect Street and Massachusetts Avenue.
This traffic signal, which does not include any right or left-turning arrows, is only an interim signal. More road improvements for this intersection are still in the works.
Ocean County has plans to widen Prospect Street to include 3 lanes in each direction of for right and left turning lanes, as well as thru traffic, and to widen Massachusetts Avenue and the Excel Business Park driveway to include 2 lanes in each direction (Massachusetts Avenue will have a lane for right turns, and a lane for thru traffic and left turns. The Excel Business Park driveway will have a lane for left turns, and a lane for thru traffic and right turns.)
All turning lanes will be 12 feet wide. All thru traffic lanes will be 11 feet wide.
The recently installed traffic signal will be replaced and upgraded with a new signal which will include left turning arrows on both sides of Prospect Street, and right turning arrows on Massachusetts Avenue to keep that lane moving while Prospect Street has the green arrow for left turns.
(The county originally included an additional left turning arrow for drivers exiting the Excel Business Park. They have since eliminated that turning arrow from their plans.)
There will be painted crosswalks, as well as crosswalk signals on all 4 sides. When pedestrian actuated, the signals will provide 27 seconds for green light pedestrian crossing.
Associated drainage upgrades are included in this project as well.
The then-Ocean County Board of Freeholders, on February 5, 2020 awarded this entire project under one contract for $1,332,675.62 to Assuncao Brothers from Edison, New Jersey.
This massive project requires coordination with numerous utilities to get them to move their poles to make way for the new travel lanes. It also requires relocation of several underground utilities.
Site work on this massive project first began in July 2020. Underground utility relocation was done, and curbs were removed to make way for the utilities to more easily move their poles.
At that time, Prospect Street had only 1 single travel lane in each direction, as well as a shoulder of variable width.
Seeing how long it would to get this major project to fruition, in July 2021, after pressure from Township officials, Ocean County restriped Prospect Street from 200 feet north of Cross Street to Williams Street to a three-lane section that includes a two-way center left turn lane, left turn lanes at specific intersections and two through lanes throughout.
Several weeks later, the county also restriped Prospect Street at the Cross Street approach to provide right and left turning lanes.
In conjunction with this restriping project, Ocean County officials coordinated with Lakewood’s Township Committee to eliminate parking along both sides of the entire Prospect Street, from Route 9 to Cross Street.
Relocation of the utility poles remains a "work in progress".
Separate from this project, the county is also nearing completion of designing a project to reconstruct the entire stretch of Prospect Street.
That project will upgrade existing pedestrian crosswalk at Capital Lane / Summer Avenue with a solar flashing beacon, and improve pedestrian crossings at Majestic Way and Murray Street with fluorescent yellow green pedestrian crosswalk signage.
This project will also include elimination of left turns in and out of some of the Prospect Square roadways at Prospect Street.
Engineering design work on this project is nearing completion. Right of Way acquisition has already begun, and the Ocean County Board of Commissioners has already budgeted $2.5 million for the project.
Bidding and road work is expected to take place after New Jersey American Water completes their utility upgrade project which is currently underway in this area.
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The plans for the "complete" Prospect Street/ Massachusetts Avenue intersection
1 comment:
I'll be very happy with quickly installed interim traffic signals at James and Williams, Oak and rte 9, Broadway and rte 9
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