The following is an ‘Ask The Mayor’ question submitted to TLS, and the Mayor’s response. Email your questions for the Mayor to [email protected].

Question:

Thanks for the opportunity to bring our concerns.
One way to greatly reduced traffic at peak hours in ridge area would be to have those 2 parallel streets going one way instead of 2 ways. Those 2 streets are not wide enough for 2 cars to pass thru at the same time especially if there are cars parked on both sides of the street. Buses have a very hard time. It slows down everyone as each car as to take turns passing thru.

North oakland could go one way from the 88 to Somerset.
Linden going to Somerset to the 88.
It would save everyone lots of time.
Thanks for the crossing guard on rte 88 at peak hours that helps a lot but I believe making those streets one way would help even more.
Thanks for looking into it!

A resident of that neighborhood.

Response from Mayor Coles:

Good afternoon. I will ask engineering and traffic and safety to look into this.

Thanks

Ray

Question:

Dear Mr. Mayor,

Thank you for installing the new left-turn light at the intersection of Route 9, James, and Pine Street. This addition is a fantastic step toward improving traffic flow.

As the final paving and lane striping process gets underway, I want to strongly urge the town to extend and restripe the left-turn lane on Pine Street (turning onto Route 9 South) all the way back, almost to Cedar Street.

Currently, the short turn lane creates a severe bottleneck. When traffic is backed up on both sides, turning cars are physically blocked by the straight-through queue and cannot even reach the lane. Extending it to Cedar Street is a necessity so turning vehicles can bypass the backlog, clear the main flow of traffic, and actually utilize the new light.
Thank you for your time and continued efforts to improve our local infrastructure.

Sincerely,

David

Response from Mayor Coles:

Good morning. I’ve asked engineering to look into how far the turning lane can be extended.

Ray

Question:

Hi Mr. Mayor,

Thank you for all that you do for the “City” of Lakewood.

Now that there is a traffic light at Route 9 & Broadway, is it possible to have no parking along the shopping plaza on Broadway?

There are 2 lanes, 1 for making a left turn from Broadway to Route 9 going South, & 1 lane going straight to Chateau Drive & right to Route 9 going North. However, the left lane gets backed up & no one can use the right due to all the cars parked along the plaza which are blocking.

Another issue is the cars that are coming out of the front of the plaza that try to cut across to the left lane, but are stuck blocking the right lane. Is it possible to block that exit and have them use the other exit, or go around to the Evergreen parking lot exit?

There is also a similar issue by Oak & Route 9, both with the exit of the plaza in the front & the parking in the beginning of Oak going East.

Thank you!

Response from Mayor Coles:

Good morning

Because Rt 9 is a state highway we will need to run everything by them. I’ll ask engineering to forward your proposal and see if they will consider it.
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