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:

Hi Mr. Mayor,

First, I would like to thank you for all you do for the community!! It’s very appreciated.

Second, I live in the East End St neighborhood and many times a day I’m at the traffic light on East End and county line rd. We need a turning light or something to get fixed whatever it may be. There are always a lot of cars wanting to make a left turn from east end to county line, however they usually can’t make the turn in time before it turns red again. The reason for this is because the opposing traffic is either going straight or making a right turn onto county line. It’s really a disaster as every day I need to wait a good 5/6 traffic lights to go. This is with only a few cars ahead of me!! Please can you figure something out?

Thanks so much

Response from Mayor Coles:

Good morning,

I have asked the engineering department to get together with the county engineer and see if they can make some changes to the lights there.

Thanks

Ray

Question:

Mr Mayor,

Below is an email I sent well over a month ago to the Ocean County Officials regarding the hazard that exists on James St at the railroad tracks.
Please forward to the appropriate parties as soon as possible.

Good afternoon.

I reside in Lakewood, NJ, in close proximity to William St and James Street. James St is a road that is handled by the County.
In recent weeks there has been roadwork consisting of scraping and repaving of James St from the intersection of Freedom Dr until the Conrail railroad tracks.
While the stretch of road has been nicely paved, it appears that the scraping removed a deep layer of the original roadway. Currently, when driving east from Freedom Drive there is a noticeable dip in the roadway. The real issue exists where James St intersects the tracks when traveling West there is a considerable jolt and “hump” in the roadway. In addition, there is a large pool of water at the tracks after a considerable rainfall.
We would appreciate if the road crew can inspect and repair the roadway expeditiously.

Thank you for your public service.

Response from Mayor Coles:

Good morning,

This came up yesterday as well. The county is waiting on a final DEP permit to complete the work by the tracks. Once this is received, the hump will disappear. The other work was done during the summer when many folks are away to minimize the disruption paving would cause at other, busier times of the year.

Thanks for reaching out.

Ray

Question:

Hi Hon. Mayor,

Recently there was a traffic light put up by 14th street and Hope Chapel Rd.

However, the green light for 14th street cars to turn on to Hope Chapel is way too long! Plus the green arrow for those coming from Countyline to turn left onto 14th st is also backing things up tons in the other direction making those cars having to wait an extra three seconds which is very precious time!

Every time I pass by this traffic light (which is about 5 times a day) there NEVER was more than 3 cars waiting on 14th street by the light! This is so important because now the traffic on Hope in BOTH directions is so beyond backed up these days! Cars literally cannot move.

Sometimes when I am on Countyline trying to turn left on to Hope no cars can even turn left by that green arrow because it is so backed up from the light by 14th street that it’s literally gridlock!
This is all new. It got so bad when the traffic light was put up!

I was talking about this with a bunch of people and all agreed that something must be done to shorten the green light for14th street cars – bec. for every second that it’s on it’s causing crazy traffic in both directions! There is no reason why the light should be on for more than 3 seconds by14th street.

Can you please look into this and see what you can do to get this resolved?

I really think, and so do many others, that if the township would just lessen the green arrow even by 4 seconds it would make WORLDS of a difference to our driving!

Thank you for everything you do, and for giving us the opportunity to voice our concerns!

Response from Mayor Coles:

Thank you for reaching out.

Many times when a new light goes up, it takes some time for the timing to be properly adjusted. I have asked the engineer to see what we can to to improve the timing of the light for motorists.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

Ray

Question:

Dear Mr. Mayor,

During the summer months, the Township assigned crossing guards by Pine & Washington and Williams & James to control the traffic in those interesections allowing left turning cars on Washington and Williams to turn safely.

Can the Township re-instate the crossing Guards in those areas during morning and afternoon rush hours (starting from 230 until after the final dismissals of the afternoon)? It would be a huge help as cars are waiting for up to 10-15 minutes in order to make a left turn.

Thank you!

Response from Mayor Coles:

I will ask the chief to see if this can be done. With school open, many of our crossing guards are occupied elsewhere. We are always looking for additional crossing guards. If anyone is interested, please reach out to LPD for an application.

Thanks

Ray

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Have a question for the Mayor? Send it to [email protected]

Have a question for the Chief? Send it to [email protected]