The Monmouth County Board of Freeholders has endorsed a preliminary engineering plan for a project that will improve a congested stretch of Route 537 in Freehold Township.
The freeholders took the action during a recent meeting. The plan that the freeholders are supporting includes refinements in what is referred to as the Preliminary Preferred Alternative (PPA).
The freeholders said that based on public and municipal comments that were received during the Local Preliminary Engineering (LPE) phase, certain refinements to the PPA “were proposed to enhance traffic safety, better mitigate deficient levels of service and better accommodate all modes of transportation, including walking, bicycling and public transit,” according a resolution.
The freeholders said they want to complete the LPE phase and proceed to the final design phase of the project.
Improvements for the Route 537 corridor have been proposed between Sentinel Road and Route 9 in Freehold Township. Sentinel Road is a residential street that is west of Iron Bridge Road and intersects with eastbound Route 537.
The freeholders and the Township Committee in Freehold Township have both said Route 537, which is a Monmouth County highway, is a major east-west transportation corridor serving regional travel needs between Burlington, Monmouth and Ocean counties.
The Route 537 corridor serves as a connector between several regional routes, specifically Route 9, Route 33 Freeway, Route 33 Business, Route 34, Route 79 and Interstate 195.
The county engineer has determined a portion of Route 537 (West Main Street) is in need of operational and safety improvements, through a project federally funded under the Local Capital Project Delivery (LCPD) program administered by the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA).
Work on the design of the project has been ongoing since 2013. Freehold Township and Monmouth County have supported phases of the design process since that time.
As previously reported, the issues and concerns on Route 537 between Sentinel Road and Route 9 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; and few auxiliary lanes, deceleration lanes or shoulders for turning movements at intersections and at business and shopping complexes.
According to Monmouth 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. The goal is to minimize traffic signal congestion, especially at peak times, and to address the high incidence of motor vehicle collisions.
