I have been a lifelong resident of Metuchen / Edison. I graduated from Metuchen High School. When I was a little boy, I remember trucks getting stuck under the Main Street railroad bridge.
Nothing has changed in 50 years. And Metuchen does nothing. Right now, Metuchen is the laughing stock of the country. The two little flashing yellow lights on the bridge do nothing to prevent trucks from trying to go under the bridge. And to make matters worse, if one of those trucks does damage to the bridge, it will disrupt travel for hundreds of thousands of people between Boston and Washington. In addition, there have been hundreds of hundreds of hours lost when drivers of other vehicles get trapped behind one of trucks stuck underneath the overpass. All of the administrators preceding Mayor Cammarano have done nothing.
Here are some suggestions:
Have you ever gone through the Lincoln Tunnel? Before the entrance of the tunnel, there is a wire that goes across the entrance to each tube of the tunnel to warn drivers if their vehicle is too tall. This would be very cost effective.
Going east on Main Street towards the underpass, Metuchen has spent a small fortune posting signs for a pedestrian walkway, placed large yellow signs and put up smaller signs at approximately 11 feet high, indicating a crosswalk. Just run the wire across Main Street at 11 feet and four inches to warn traffic. At least drivers will have a chance to stop and turn onto Penn Place. Perhaps some of you think that will look terrible. So what? Metuchen has done nothing in 50 years. This would at least give the truck traffic a chance.
This problem is not going away.
In fact, it is getting worse. I remember recently that two trucks hit the overpass within a couple of hours of each other. Metuchen will lose the revenue it gains by issuing summonses to the drivers of the trucks, but Mayor Cammarano will go down in history as the mayor who finally did something about the Main Street underpass.
I am sure you are familiar with the Parsonage Road underpass, not far from the Menlo Park Mall. There is a sensor that sets off an alarm if the oncoming vehicle is too large to proceed through the underpass. How come Edison can get it right and Metuchen can’t?
Ralph Fusco
Edison
