County places safety strips on roads annoying local residents
PETERSBURG — First there was a rumble, then there was a grumble.
Committeeman John Coggins said during a Township Committee meeting Monday that he has heard complaints about the intensity of the noise generated by safety devices recently installed on several county-owned roads through Upper Township.
“The neighbors are going absolutely crazy,” Coggins said.
Township engineer Paul Dietrich said the strips were installed on Stagecoach Road at the intersections of Church and Butter roads without any notice from the county. He said that is not unusual and that notification depends on the level of the project.
Coggins questioned whether they were installed in the proper place, noting there is a four-way stop at each intersection and thus little need for extra safety.
“I could see putting them up where the car wash is in a spot where streets coming by are through-streets, no stop signs,” he said. “You’ve got a four-way stop, very obvious prominent lights.”
He said they are not needed at their current location.
“When the centerline rumble strips were going in various places throughout the township, Stagecoach was one of the ones they were considering doing but because of the fact it is a highly residential area, we had to remove them,” Coggins said.
Deputy Mayor Jay Newman, chief of the Marmora Volunteer Fire Company, said there have been no auto accidents at those locations since the four-way stops were installed and that most of the crashes occur where Stagecoach intersects Tuckahoe Road and Roosevelt Boulevard.
Dietrich said the placement is particularly annoying because every car has to cross them at the intersections. He said the strips have been there for less than a week and that he got a call the Monday morning after they were installed.
He contacted the county engineer who told him they were put in as safety measure because there have been previous accidents at Church and Stagecoach roads.
“They were put there for driver alertness, to alert them of the stop,” Dietrich said.
He said the county engineer told him the noise will be abated over time but noted they have been present on Butter Road for years “and still sound pretty strong.”
Committeewoman Kim Hayes asked if there were a quieter option.
“The only solution is to remove them and go back to oversized stop signs, lights on the stop sign as well as overhead,” Dietrich said.
He recommended sending a letter to the Cape May County Board of Commissioners expressing Township Committee’s opinions on the matter.
Lower speed limit in Strathmere?
During public comment, Juliette Schlocter, vice president of the Strathmere Improvement Association, expressed her support for a resolution the committee adopted that urges the county to lower the speed limit on Commonwealth Avenue to 25 mph.
She said the speed limit in the area of Whale Beach is 40 mph and drops to 35 mph in the summer, but said that is too fast.
“Even on a day when it’s not peak season, you have beach parking all along the coast side and you have a lot of pedestrian crossing. The beachside parking, the children coming with their families. They’re standing, they’re running around the car. There are so many days that many of us see near-miss accidents,” Schlocter said. “There is so much congestion, you have a very tight pedestrian and bike path on the other side. There is no margin for error with doors opening onto the road.”
She also urged keeping one speed limit year-round so as not to confuse motorists.
“Switching signs because of the season is not helpful for public safety,” she said. “I would encourage, stick with one speed year-round so people aren’t thinking last week they could go 40 mph.”
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff