LAKEWOOD, TOMS RIVER, & JACKSON TRAFFIC SIGNALS TO RECEIVE SAFETY UPGRADES INCLUDING FOR EMERGENCY RESPONDERS

Ocean County is slated this coming year to increase traffic safety at a number of intersections in our area.

The Ocean County Board of Commissioners today awarded a contract for a project to upgrade a total of 8 existing traffic signals, including Cedar Bridge Avenue and New Hampshire Avenue in Lakewood, New Hampshire Avenue and Hampshire Hills Road / Bridport Drive in Toms River, 2 traffic signals along Jackson Mills Road in Jackson, 3 traffic signals along Fischer Blvd in Toms River, as well as a traffic signal in Point Pleasant Borough.

These upgrades include modifications to existing equipment, construction of new steel traffic signal and pedestrian signal poles, installation of conduit and wire, modifications to the existing timings in the signal controllers, installation of new video detection and - at the Toms River intersections, GPS enabled emergency preemptive systems to allow for emergency response vehicles to quicker get through busy intersections.

As shown below, the intersection of Cedar Bridge Avenue and New Hampshire Avenue in Lakewood will receive guideline striping in all 4 approaches to assist left-turning vehicles to stay in their lane.

Additionally, to improve safety at night, the traffic signal bulbs on Cedar Bridge Avenue westbound will be replaced and upgraded with optically programmed traffic signal heads which will include a night time automatic dimming and will have a limit of visibility of 860 feet so as to ensure that drivers at the adjacent Flannery Avenue intersection do not get confused by seeing the New Hampshire Avenue intersection signal bulbs.

The New Hampshire Avenue and Hampshire Hills Road / Bridport Drive intersection in Toms River will receive new guideline striping to assist drivers turning left from New Hampshire Avenue onto Hampshire Hills Blvd to turn onto the road and not in to the median.

The traffic signal bulbs will have a backplate with a 2" reflective border so as to be visible even during electrical outages (so drivers will know to treat the non-working signal as an all-way stop).

The traffic control signs will have aluminum back plates as well.

The Ocean County Board of Commissioners awarded this contract today to Edward H. Cray, Inc. for $963,326.45.

Road work is expected to commence in 2023.

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