Speeding: An Issue on South Franklin St.

Several residents living along South Franklin Street in Lambertville, New Jersey, have decided to establish this website as an effective way to openly share and communicate neighborly information regarding safety issues and other matters of mutual concern with all of those living along our street, and any other interested party.

From time to time, we will focus on proposing solutions to these serious safety issues. Where appropriate, we will continue to bring our perspective to the attention of the City Council of Lambertville for resolution.

A few years ago, many of our residents signed and forwarded a petition to the Mayor and the City Council, asking them to address a problem involving speeding and other unsafe driving conditions which had emerged, and that we believed were partially attributable to the resurfacing of our roadway several years ago.

South Franklin Street runs up a hill, beginning from an intersection with Swan Street, just a few feet from where the latter intersects with the state Highway, Route 165.

The roadway proceeds past historic Mt. Hope Cemetery on the left, and several residences on the right, including both single unit homes and townhouses as well.

There are several entrances along the roadway from which pedestrian and other traffic enter, including two roadway ramps and a stairway coming from Mount Hope Cemetery, and a roadway ramp coming from the southern end of St. Johns Cemetery. The two roadway ramps from Mount Hope are closed to thru vehicular traffic.

As these photos demonstrate, there are some steep portions along the way, but the roadway levels out considerably near the top, where it ultimately intersects at an acute angle with the lower end of Highland Avenue.

That intersection is at a sharp and relatively blind left turn. Over all, the currently paved portion of the roadway spans about 1/3 mile from Swan Street up to Highland Avenue.

At that point, South Franklin Street continues on straight ahead as a dirt road extension, where several additional homes are situated. It is a "dead end" extension, with no thru traffic.

As a residential street, the speed limit on South Franklin is set at 25 mph. Because of the speeding and other unsafe conditions on the street, we have identified specific risks that our efforts are intended to reduce.

We believe these are the four primary safety risks:

1) There are small children living on our hill, and speeding coupled with a few blind spots along the roadway, absolutely require that that risk be adequately addressed;

2) South Franklin has become a commonly used walkway for pedestrians and joggers, even though there are a few stretches without sidewalks;

3) Several folks along the street have pets, including dogs that they walk along the roadway at a variety of times, including late in the evening, and;

4) Finally, there is a very real risk to property arising out of the combination of speeding and blind spots. Within the very recent past two parked vehicles owned by residents have been totaled following crashes that occurred as a result of driving too quickly for the conditions along the roadway.

Following the street resurfacing, South Franklin became a tempting "by-pass" of sorts for some, allowing short-cut access to other areas of Cottage Hill, the Woodcrest condominiums, as well as a number of homes on the upper "dirt road" extension of South Franklin Street itself. The problem is the recently repaved surface has become an enticement to those in a hurry, and speeding along our roadway has become a serious issue.

Thus, while that road resurfacing work did successfully address several issues, including smoothing out the roadway for travel back and forth, and solved some of the drainage, or storm water runoff problems so often associated with life on a hillside, there was a consequential downside.

The repair had actually changed traffic patterns here on Cottage Hill by attracting significant additional traffic to our roadway. The newly resurfaced South Franklin Street became the pathway of choice for many other residents living elsewhere on Cottage Hill, the Northfield Court area, as well as in the Woodcrest condominium complex, and beyond, some speeders included.

But in response to our petition -- which was signed by the vast majority of our residents -- no action was taken by the City, other than a minor amount of law enforcement monitoring, and a claim that the City's engineer had determined that no traffic calming devices (such as the employment of speed humps) were permitted on the roadway, as a result of the slope of the hill. Nothing, however, was ever presented to us in writing. As recently as February of this year we were told by a city official that because of the slope of the hill, "regulations" prohibited the use of speed humps on South Franklin. However, our research quite clearly showed otherwise, and we have used that research to challenge City officials.

Finally, a "traffic calming" plan had been prepared for the City of Lambertville back in 2003, with specific recommendations for several areas of the City. But South Franklin Street was not included in that plan.


View Larger Map

Those changing traffic patterns on our street were further enhanced by the removal of the fences around both cemeteries a few years ago -- Mount Hope and St. Johns -- in effect, opening up the area and inviting vehicle traffic to the parallel roadways of a resurfaced Highland Avenue at the north end, and the also newly-surfaced private roadway running between the two cemeteries from Boozer Street to South Franklin Street.

That private drive (not marked on the embedded map, above) had more recently became a popular two-way access road, to and from town. It intersects Boozer Street between Lincoln and Douglas Streets on the eastern side of the cemeteries, via a steep ramp emptying onto a sharply sloping location of South Franklin Street.

Owing to the landscaping of an adjacent property, there is also a "blind spot" there with respect to traffic coming down South Franklin Street at that location.

Especially during inclement weather conditions, such as when it is snow or ice covered (see photo below), that sharp ramp has exacerbated safety conditions here on the South Franklin Street side.

On the Boozer Street side, however, the landscape is relatively flat at the intersection with the St. John's roadway, and on approaching the intersection, the view in unimpeded in all directions where it intersects Boozer Street at a "T" in between Lincoln and Douglas streets.

The risk is not theoretical. Recently, for example, a vehicle traveling from Boozer Street toward South Franklin, lost control on that ramp and crashed into and totaled a car parked in the owner's driveway here on the South Franklin Street side. Had the resident's car not been parked there, the moving vehicle might well have crashed into a house.

The private roadway is owned by St. Johns Church here in Lambertville, and was originally intended to provide vehicular access for funeral processions, and for people visiting the gravesites of their loved ones. It is also used by the Lambertville Fire Company, as the member memorial monument for all of the City's various fire companies, located on a knoll on the Mount Hope side of the roadway. Occasionally memorial events are held at the monument by the firefighters.

In addition, a designated and marked emergency vehicle access to the Woodcrest condominium complex in the Liberty View Court section of the complex, intersects Highland Avenue at the top of Boozer Street. (It is shown as a narrow-necked connector on the embedded map.) "Click" on photo to see enlarged version.

Though marked as an emergency way only, it has not been enforced as such. In fact, it has become an entrance and/or exit of choice for some of the residents of the complex even though it is officially designated as an emergency connector. The sign posted at the entrance specifically reads "Emergency Vehicle Access Only." The entrance to Woodcrest is located on Studdiford Street opposite Northfield Court, where it becomes Goat Hill Road heading into West Amwell Township.

Recently, a group of residents of South Franklin Street voiced their concerns to the City Council over incidents of vehicle speeding and other dangerous conditions here on the hill. Though the City had initially opposed designating the St. John's roadway as "One-Way", that has changed. On Wednesday evening, February 25th, during a meeting with a larger group of South Franklin Street residents held to address their safety concerns, the Mayor indicated that the City would approach St. Johns about designating it as a "One-Way." Having not heard anything from City officials, one member of our group stopped by the Church on the afternoon of Friday the 27th and met briefly with Reverend Robert Kolakowski. He said that the Church had met with City officials, and had agreed to designate the roadway one way going in the direction of Boozer Street.

According to Father Kolakowski, the "One-Way" signs could go up as early as the the next week -- the first week of March.

During that meeting on the 25th, Mayor DelVecchio also committed to enforcing the official designation of the "emergency access only" means of egress to Woodcrest as well, which should also relieve some of the unintended vehicular traffic on South Franklin Street. Specifically, the access roadway will be chained across. He reiterated that the initial approved plan for the complex from the start had that access point designated for emergency vehicle access only.

Additionally, the City's consulting engineer, Christine Ballard, P.E., of T&E Engineering, will examine the other portions of the roadway for the employment of traffic calming devices, including, among others, speed humps, speed tables, speed cushions, and/or possible raised crosswalks using non-skid granular material, and roadway "narrowing" markings, each intended to contribute to an overall strategy for slowing down or reducing the pace of the traffic on our residential roadway, and ameliorating the serious safety risks we have brought to the attention of the City.

No one element will solve the overall problem, but we are hopeful if the city addresses each of the issues, our quality of life will be significantly improved, and the current risks to our safety greatly diminished.