Harvey Cedars Residents Rally for Long Beach Blvd. Lane Reduction

A busload – literally – of Harvey Cedars residents asked the Ocean County freeholders to consider reducing the number of lanes on Long Beach Boulevard in their town from four to two this week, though the five-member board appeared unlikely to budge on the issue.

Buses from the Long Beach Island community brought about a hundred residents to the meeting in Toms River on Wednesday. The borough's taxpayer association sponsored the buses, and placed advertisement boards along the county-owned boulevard last week and purchased a full-page ad in The SandPaper to push the issue.

The residents say that shoulders on the boulevard, as narrow as 18 inches in some locations, prevent them from being able to safely walk, ride bicycles and push baby carriages along what is essentially the borough's only north-south corridor.

But the freeholder board has been resistant to allowing the road to be converted to a two-lane highway with a turning lane – a move that would allow for larger shoulders – because of concerns brought up by neighboring municipalities that traffic delays could impact the response times of emergency services.

"We understand the barriers, we understand the issues," said Harvey Cedars Mayor Jonathan Oldham. "But there are some sections in town that are still very unsafe. There are some sections where you cannot ride a bike and have a car pass in a safe way."

Frank Scarantino, the county engineer, said the debate over the number of lanes on the approximately two mile-long stretch of roadway dates back to 1966, when it was decided that the road had to be widened.

Federal funding was used in the widening project, and residents at the time supported the four lane setup.

Fast forward to the current debate, which centers around an Oct. 2011 report from the state Department of Transportation which stated that "significant studies" would have to be completed before the any loss of capacity could be considered, said Scarantino.

There is also the possibility that federal funds could have to be returned if capacity is reduced by choice, officials said.

Freeholder Director John P. Kelly, a fierce opponent of reducing lanes, suggested several times during the discussion on Wednesday that installing sidewalks would be a better option. He was supported by Louis Luglio, an engineering consultant hired by the county several years ago to study the roadway in Harvey Cedars.

"The addition of the sidewalks on the shoulders would be a better safety improvement and an investment in pedestrians and cyclists sharing the same lane," Luglio said.

But residents, dressed in bright orange t-shirts reading '3 in HC,' vehemently disagreed.

"I won't let my kids walk to the ice cream parlor, it's pathetic," said borough resident Phil Kunz.

"It's a death trap," said Lisa Lobrano, another borough resident. "Bicyclists, pedestrians, strollers, it's crazy. If you come down and walk in Harvey Cedars, you'll see that."

The issues were only made worse by a 2010 law that mandated cars stop for pedestrians, many agreed.

"Since the 2010 pedestrian law, cars in one lane may stop and cars in the other lane may not," said Lynne Warshaw. "The other car might not see the pedestrian. Sometimes the car in the other lane will try to zoom around the car that stopped."

Reducing the number of lanes would help solve the overall problem, Warshaw said.

Long Beach Township Mayor Joseph Mancini, however, urged the freeholders to maintain the roadway as it currently stands. He presented board members with 241 signatures from residents of the Loveladies section of his town who are opposed to making the boulevard a two-lane highway.

"I have 21 first responders who are against it, and that is my primary concern," said Mancini.

In sections of his town that have wider lanes, pedestrians and bicyclists still walk and ride in the lanes of traffic, ignoring the law, he said. The same would happen in Harvey Cedars, he argued, and in the process emergency responders could be held up in traffic, especially on peak summer weekends.

"The house next door to me went up in flames last summer," said Mary Stone-Pleeter of Loveladies. "We were very, very lucky that it happened at 12 a.m. because it gave enough time for the fire department to get there. The police and fire department said in another minute, my house would have gone up in flames. There is also an elderly population. We do worry that if someone was sick, how long will it take the first responders?"

Kelly said other measures enacted to improve safety in Harvey Cedars, such as radar-based speed limit signs, more crosswalks and three additional traffic lights have calmed traffic, and sidewalks should be the next step.

No other members of the board commented on the lane reduction proposal when asked. There was no action taken on the issue.