Largest Public Safety Initiative in Borough History About To Improve Roads For Pedestrians, Cyclists and Motorists Alike
Borough of Point Pleasant – Mayor Robert A. Sabosik reached out to State Senator James Holzapfel earlier this year asking for assistance in Point Pleasant Borough. In a letter to the Senator, Mayor Sabosik stated that “The Borough of Point Pleasant with approximately 20,000 year-round residents is the most densely populated municipality in Ocean County with an ever-growing population of young families. Our roadways routinely see a large amount of congestion and we routinely receive complaints from residents concerned for the large number of children who walk and bicycle throughout town. With that in mind, over the last number of years road projects have become paramount to my administration to increase safety for motorists, pedestrians, and cyclists alike. We have embarked on several projects including road reconstruction and new sidewalks throughout the Borough but are in desperate need of more. Our problem locally is funding, so I am seeking your assistance. The Borough of Point Pleasant is respectfully requesting $5,000,000.00 to go towards several new projects we feel will dramatically improve our community. This amount of money might not seem high in comparison to the State’s overall budget, but for Point Pleasant Borough it will be life changing.”
After receiving the request from Mayor Sabosik, NJ State Senator James Holzapfel, who represents Point Borough and the entire 10th Legislative District in the State Legislature, enthusiastically responded. According to Senator Holzapfel, “I immediately reached out to the Mayor and first and foremost, explained to him that Point Borough is my hometown, it’s where I grew up and it will always have a place in my heart. We then sat down and went over his plan to improve Point Pleasant. After a few discussions with him and his Administrator Frank Pannucci and my Chief of Staff Glen Feldman, I got in contact with the Governor’s Office and the NJ Department of Transportation since these improvements would clearly increase public safety and improve Point Borough’s roadways. After a few fruitful meetings, the NJ DOT decided these were worthwhile projects and have committed to funding them in their entirety.”
Mayor Sabosik went on to say that “I am incredibly grateful for Senator Holzapfel. He has always represented our community well and is always there to fight for the residents of our area. For a while we were actually in the 30th Legislative District until this past year when we were put back in the 10th when the State re-drew their Legislative Districts. I knew immediately we would be in good shape knowing that the Senator was our representative again. Being from Point Borough originally, he knows firsthand how this community was never designed to hold the population of today, none of the towns at the Shore are. To say he acted upon this request quickly would be an understatement. He really came through for our community and the Council and I can’t thank him enough.”
According to Borough Administrator Frank Pannucci, “Mayor Sabosik and the Borough Council have embarked on quite a few pedestrian safety initiatives over the last several years including new sidewalks in various areas of town, more so than any previous administration. The projects that will be done due to the funding that the Senator secured from the Department of Transportation are going to completely reshape our community, it truly will be a renaissance because all this ties into other projects being funded from other grants.”
Mr. Pannucci further added that, “Before Mayor Sabosik made his request, he sat down with myself and our Police Chief Adam Picca to go over major safety needs on some of our busiest roads. We came up with 4 immediate areas and crafted a realistic plan that we could implement if given the proper funding.”
Mayor Sabosik went on to lay these areas out saying that “These projects are going to happen, they have been committed to by the State … our community of Point Pleasant Borough is going to drastically improve due to these projects.”
The Mayor continued that “The first projects are going to complete what we’ve already started at the foot of Herbertsville Road with the sidewalks we’ve installed there last year. This funding will allow us to put sidewalks (on one side of the roadway) down the entire length of both Herbertsville (the Point Pleasant portion of it) and River Roads. Currently there are no sidewalks on either of these roads except for the little bit we were able to get started last year. These roads are unsafe for the large number of pedestrians and motorists alike. Families and residents of all ages have to walk practically in the street to get to Riverfront Park dealing with the cross traffic between Route 70 and Route 88. For the first time ever, these roads will have a safe sidewalk for residents of those neighborhoods to walk down. It’s going to be life-changing for our town.”
The second area according to the Mayor would be concentrating on Bridge Avenue. “We are already beginning to eliminate some head on parking with some of our stores and have made some improvements to Bridge Avenue these last few years, but it hasn’t been enough. We’ve already made contact with the County since it is a County Road and they’ve agreed to allow us to make these improvements. Bike Lanes are not possible on Bridge Avenue, but we will be putting in ‘Share the Road’ symbols on the pavement the entire length of the roadway similar to what’s on Route 35 in Bay Head. In addition to this, we will be improving crosswalks with ADA compliant cutouts and ramps and new push to walk lighted crosswalk signs to make it safe for pedestrians to cross the roadway both day and night. If that wasn’t enough, we’re also going to be installing more electric & solar speed limit signs and speed feedback signs the entire length of Bridge Avenue as well.”
The third area the Mayor elaborated on was Route 88. “This is where it becomes a little tricky. We’ve made a pretty significant request to the State and they are internally seeing if everything we want to do is feasible as Route 88 is a State road. The easy stuff won’t be an issue, similar to Bridge Avenue, we will be installing push to walk lighted crosswalk signs at various at various spots like at the skatepark, Point Creamery and a few other crosswalks heavily used by pedestrians. This will dramatically increase safety, especially at night when these crosswalks are rather dark. We will also be upgrading the crosswalks with ADA compliant cutouts and ramps. Additionally, we will be installing electric & solar speed limit signs and speed feedback signs the entire length of Route 88.”
“The tricky request, and the most exciting, is a bicycle lane.” Mayor Sabosik stated. From the east bound side of the corner of Bridge Avenue to the foot of the Route 88 Bridge, there seems to be enough room for a dedicated bike lane, at least on one side of the road. There are commercial parking lots and there is no parking on 88 the entire length. The DOT has their engineers currently looking into this and will be getting back to us on the possibility. If the bike lane is not possible, we will be labeling the roadway with the share the road symbols like we plan on doing with Bridge Avenue. For the portion of Route 88 East of the Bridge, we know no bike lane is possible so it will just consist of push to walk lighted crosswalk signs at the crosswalks and electric speed limit signs and speed feedback signs with the share the road symbols.”
Borough Administrator Frank Pannucci emphasized that “The Borough is anticipating the total cost of these projects to be around $5 million dollars including design, project management and construction and will take about two years to complete. I cannot emphasize enough what this funding is going to mean to our community. It will undoubtedly make the most densely populated municipality in Ocean County a safer place and improve our roadways for all and none of it would have been possible without the close working relationship between Mayor Sabosik, the Borough Council and Senator Holzapfel. Mayor Sabosik and the Council understand the need to have a good working relationship with all levels of government in New Jersey and this latest initiative is proof of their capability and dedication to lead our town.”
Council President Antoinette DePaola, who also chairs the Council’s Public Safety Committee had a number of things to say. “This funding the Senator is securing for us means we don’t have to use local tax dollars, which is amazing. These public safety initiatives the Mayor just talked about will undoubtedly change our community for the better. This will be in addition to other projects currently in the works as well including sidewalks behind Ocean Road Elementary, sidewalks on Dorsett Doc Road and the County paying to have crosswalks installed for the first time ever on the Point Borough portion of Arnold Avenue and lighting improvements coming to the crosswalks on the Beaver Dam Road side of Community Park. Our town is absolutely moving in the right direction.”
Point Pleasant Police Chief Adam Picca stated that “From a law enforcement perspective, these projects are absolutely life altering for our town. We’ve already seen the impact the electronic speed limit display and feedback signs have, so to have more will absolutely be a benefit as it brings drivers’ speed to their attention immediately. The lighted push to walk crosswalk signs will make crossing our roadways safer and the share the road symbols and possible bike lane on Route 88 will increase safety by making bicyclists, pedestrians and drivers more alert to their actions and surroundings. And then the sidewalks on Herbertsville and River Roads, all I can say is that this is amazing. Public safety is always a priority for us and these projects the Mayor and Senator are going to be bringing to Point Pleasant will make the Police Department’s mission that much easier. We can never eliminate traffic accidents because of human nature, regardless of laws or safety measures there will always be someone who chooses to be careless and ignore their surroundings, but these improvements will without a doubt decrease the number of people who choose to be careless and make life safer for our residents.”
Senator James Holzapfel added that “Point Pleasant Borough is a special town, and they have great leadership there. It’s no wonder people would do anything to live there and that the residents don’t want to leave. It was about time the State invested in some significant improvements to this area and I’m just happy I was able to help get this done. Public service is about making our communities better, and that’s the most important part of this job to me.”
