Jackson Township Mayor Michael Reina, in partnership with the township council, the Jackson Township Police Department, and traffic safety and civil engineers from T&M Associates, has announced a traffic safety study to be conducted for the Robin Estates neighborhood.
Robin Estates is a small community of single-family homes with two major connector roads passing through it, Manhattan Street and Cooks Bridge Road.
Those roads are heavily traveled and shared with the Meridian healthcare building, Holman Elementary School, Johnson Park, West Lake, Winding Ways, Sixty Acres, Johns, and multiple commercial strip malls.
At the last township council meeting, residents voiced concerns about their neighborhood being used as a pass-through and’ shortcut’ to bypass the major roads and lodged multiple complaints regarding speeding drivers and even reckless drivers exceeding the speed limit through the quiet 25-mile-per-hour side streets.
“Residents came out to the meeting and let us know their concerns, and these are not new issues at all,” said Councilman Mordechai Burnstein. These are issues the town has been grappling with for years, and in the past, we’d conduct a speed enforcement operation, but once we leave, the problem comes back. We’re now looking at a permanent solution for these residents.”
Burnstein said the township officials, including himself, Council President Jennifer Kuhn, Director of Public Safety Joseph Candido, and DPW Director Shawn Bolinsky, recently met with traffic safety and civil engineers with T&M Associates.
The engineers told the township that one of the problems with the neighborhood was its design. The neighborhood was built in a 20th-century grid-style layout, which makes it easier for the community to use as a shortcut.
“We don’t design neighborhoods like this anymore,” said the engineers.
The study will examine traffic patterns and identify hot spots and problems within the design. After data is collected, the engineers seek to deliver a plan to remedy the problems, which could involve many possibilities.
