FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP – A traffic bottleneck is expected to be eliminated when Monmouth County completes a road improvement project on Route 537 (West Main Street) in Freehold Township.
On Oct. 12, the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders passed a resolution approving plans and specifications for the widening of the westbound Route 537 approach over the Route 33 bypass.
Route 537 is a county highway. The project location is in the vicinity of the Freehold Raceway Mall.
Just past the Trotters Way entrance/exit at the mall, motorists heading west on Route 537 in two lanes of traffic have to merge into one lane to cross the bridge that carries vehicles over the Route 33 bypass. Route 537 reverts from one lane back to two lanes of traffic at the end of the bridge.
The freeholders’ resolution states that “the widening of westbound Route 537 at the Route 33 bypass will eliminate a merge from two lanes to one lane through the interchange and thereby improve traffic flow and reduce congestion.”
The construction work will include the relocation of drainage structures, street lighting and pavement resurfacing which will be performed by in-house employees and on-call contractor services contracts, according to the resolution.
The widening of westbound Route 537 over the Route 33 bypass is one piece of a larger project the freeholders are planning to undertake to improve Route 537 in Freehold Township.
Preliminary engineering work is being completed for Route 537 improvements between Sentinel Road and Route 9. Sentinel Road is a residential street that is west of Iron Bridge Road and intersects with eastbound Route 537.
The issues and concerns on this section of Route 537 include traffic operational deficiencies; safety deficiencies; substandard design elements; a lack of shoulders along the entire length; substandard auxiliary lane widths along exterior lanes; substandard vertical geometry at two locations; few auxiliary lanes, deceleration lanes or shoulders for turning movements at intersections and at business and shopping complexes.
According to the county, the corridor has numerous conflicting access points that create traffic operational issues; insufficient shoulders or lack of outside shoulders for the entire length of road; no bicycle compatibility; and gaps in existing sidewalks.
The purpose of the proposed project is to improve traffic safety, reduce traffic congestion and provide better accommodations for various modes of transportation along the Route 537 corridor, according to county representatives.
In other county news involving Freehold Township, the freeholders accepted a donation of land from Gloria Regante for additions to Turkey Swamp Park. The land being donated to the county is off Route 537 and totals 10.6 acres.
The Board of Recreation Commissioners recommended that the freeholders accept the donation to the county’s open space inventory. The freeholders thanked Regante for what they called “a generous offer” to donate the parcels.
