OCEAN COUNTY – Ocean County has received $1.6 million in federal grants to make safety improvements to five Lakewood intersections, along Cedar Bridge Avenue, from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive to Vine Avenue.
The grant will be used to install a median with pedestrian refuge islands and bicycle compatible shoulders. It will also include upgrades to traffic signals and dedicated left-hand turn lanes on Cedar Bridge Ave. at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. and Vine Ave.
Funding for these improvement projects was approved by the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority earlier this week, and is among 14 other projects throughout NJ that have been approved by the Board of Trustees of the NJTPA.
“This road runs through a residential area close to downtown Lakewood and pedestrians rely on it to get to local businesses, schools, public transit, parks and houses of worship,” said Ocean County Freeholder John P. Kelly, who represents the County on the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority Board of Trustees. “This grant will allow us to make needed safety improvements, including giving residents crossing the road a safe refuge.”
This generous grant is part of the NJTPA’s Local Safety Program, meant to provide upgrades and improvements to target areas to increase safety.
“Ocean County looks continuously at areas that need improvements,” Kelly said. “This grant will help in our long term goals of improving safety on our roads.”
“We have more than 626 miles of county roads in Ocean County, the most of any county in the state,” said Ocean County Freeholder Director Gerry P. Little, liaison to the Ocean County Road Department. “We appreciate the NJTPA’s efforts to authorize funds that assist us in upgrading our roads to make them safer for our residents and visitors.”
Cedar Bridge Ave. is a heavily used route that connects to the Garden State Parkway, so safety improvement measures are essential here. The Ocean County Engineering Department plans to proceed with the design and permitting for the project.
The NJTPA Board recently approved $50.8 million in Local Safety Program and High Risk Rural Roads grants for projects for 2017 and 2018. Some of these funds have also recently gone to improve local areas in Monmouth County as well.
For more information on the program, visit njtpa.org/LocalSafety.
