Traffic and pedestrian safety continue to be a major focus in Maplewood, where township leaders conducted a Traffic and Pedestrian Safety Summit on June 20.
Concerns about safety reached a fevered pitch after a child was struck by a car at Prospect and Hilton last fall and a pedestrian was struck at night last December crossing Prospect at Elmwood.
The town followed up with increased safety measures including temporary speed humps at Prospect and Hilton; the purchase and installation of six new pedestrian crosswalk signs for Prospect Street at Bowdoin, Courter, Oakview, Madison, Elmwood and Franklin Place; the purchase and installation of crosswalk signs for Ridgewood Road; and ordering several such signs for Oakland Road bordering Maplecrest Park (not yet received).
The town is also studying the need to improve lighting in certain areas.
Signage, lighting and more was discussed on June 20 at the Traffic and Pedestrian Safety Summit.
According to Mayor Vic DeLuca, “The four-hour brainstorming session included 21 people consisting of Maplewood Department Directors, Police leadership, engineering and traffic consultants, and traffic and pedestrian advocates.” DeLuca and Deputy Mayor Nancy Adams also attended. (See agenda below.)
“The purpose of the meeting was to have a discussion among the Township’s leadership and outside experts on ways we can work to improve pedestrian safety and slow down traffic. Our next step is to have a follow-up meeting of Township leadership in July to discuss what policies and practices we will adopt going forward. The plan is to have a community meeting in September or October to share with the public what we learned and are thinking about implementing and to gather their input and suggestions,” said DeLuca.
“The Summit was exactly what I had envisioned when I proposed it on January 1,” DeLuca added. “It got us thinking about what we are now doing and how we can make improvements and it allowed all of us to get the perspectives of experts on how we can address this problem. We also found out about valuable resources that we will seek out and funding that might be available to us in the future.”
