A pilot for a new traffic pattern at Oakland Road and Prospect Street, prohibiting left hand turns at the Prospect Street and Oakland Road intersections, came and went quickly in June, but yielded important information, say Township officials.
The traffic pattern pilot went into effect on June 8. By June 16, members of the Maplewood Township Committee agreed to end the pilot — but said that it could be revisited after the street is repaved, re-striped and other improvements such as bike lanes are added later this year.
The pilot disallowed lefthand turns from both eastbound and westbound Oakland onto Prospect, and also lefthand turns from northbound and southbound Prospect onto Oakland Road.
“The only existing left turn movement that seems to have some notable volume that we really want to pay attention to is the northbound left turn movement,” said traffic consultant Pat Downey of Dynamic Traffic on June 16. “That volume was sizable, especially in the morning and even somewhat less so in the afternoon. So what we see there is a combination of rerouting a fair amount of the volume, … people got used to the pilot that was installed and started taking alternative routes altogether.”
That alternative route was Franklin Place.
“I think we’re over-engineering this road,” said Mayor Vic De Luca, “And I am in favor of not doing this.” De Luca added, “We made earlier decisions about drop-offs around the high school that are predicated on getting into Kensington and North Terrace. This makes it very difficult to do that.”
TC members Dean Dafis and Jane Collins-Colding agreed.
TC member Nancy Adams — who is Chair of the Engineering and Public Works Committee and who has been leading the Prospect Street redesign discussion — said that she was interested in returning to the conversation, and perhaps doing another pilot, once other improvements went into place.
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“I still think it would be something that we could study further after the improvements are made. Most importantly, I think the stops at the all-way stop at Elmwood and the all-way stop forthcoming at Oakview is particularly something that could have such a positive impact that this becomes less problematic than it’s today.”
Downey suggested allowing other left hand turns — just not the westbound left onto Oakland from northbound Prospect. Deputy Mayor Malia Herman said she didn’t like the idea of a “pork chop” median at the intersection and felt that a compromise could sow confusion. “I could see a lot of funny business happening with cars sort of going around the median and/or going over it. … We either do the whole thing or we don’t because, but even if we do, there’s got to be obviously education and enforcement.”
Parker Avenue bike lanes were installed in 2025. Photo by Martin Ceperley.
The pilot program at Prospect and Oakland was part of a proposed redesign of Prospect Street that has been discussed at three public meetings (April 28, May 4 and May 26), as well as the June 16 Township Committee meeting. The township plans to repave the entire length of Prospect Street — from Concord to Beach — this year. The repaving will include redesign and striping to add dedicated bike lanes in several areas, an all-way stop sign at Elmwood, an all-way stop sign at Oakview, and other improvements intended to increase pedestrian, cyclist and motor vehicle safety.
On June 16, the Township Committee also handled other “decision points” related to the Prospect Street redesign:
- Prospect Presbyterian Church Area: A dedicated bike lane will be added to the Northbound lane in front Prospect Presbyterian Church. Additional vehicle parking spaces will be added along Tuscan Road.
- Springfield Intersection: The southbound lane at this intersection will have a dedicated bike lane and two travel lanes. Dedicated bike lanes have also been added on the south side of Springfield Avenue near the intersection to provide transition areas to shared lanes.
- Speed humps on Prospect between Concord and Springfield Avenue: De Luca argued that replacing the humps with “speed tables” would upset local residents and not be as effective as the humps.
“We have been living with speed humps and I urge us not to go to speed tables,” said De Luca. “We’ve had speed humps there. They work, we told the people we were going to have speed humps, and all of a sudden I see speed tables. I don’t think speed tables work. South Orange has speed tables on Scotland Road. You don’t even know you’re going over them.”
“I hate to agree with Mr. De Luca …,” said Adams, to laughter.
The Prospect plan with bike lanes has faced much less opposition than a proposal for Parker Avenue that was implemented in 2025. Maplewood Engineer Paul Kittner said that the redesign of the entire 1.4-mile length of Prospect Street is in the “Complete Streets” model — meaning that cars, pedestrians and bikes are all considered in the design.
To view the full concept plan, click here or download it here:
Also at the June 16 meeting, the Township Committee approved a contract for $17,500.00 to Dynamic Traffic for supplemental engineering services for the Prospect Street corridor.
In its June 22 township newsletter, the township announced that it anticipates beginning construction on the Prospect Avenue improvements this fall: “This is a major project implementing bicycle lanes, traffic-calming treatments, and pedestrian facilities. Construction work will create disruption to travel; we appreciate your understanding as we make these meaningful upgrades.”
