This service road at the Lincroft Acme will become a two-way. A two-way center turn lane will be installed on Middletown-Lincroft Road.
MIDDLETOWN, NJ — On Tuesday, Monmouth County announced it will officially begin construction to turn the one-way service road at the Lincroft Acme into a two-way road. When it's completed in the fall, drivers will turn left or right onto the service road from Middletown-Lincroft Road.
This is a major roadwork project in Middletown and it will significantly change how people access Lincroft Plaza.
Roadwork begins this week, and "all of the work should be completed by this fall," said Monmouth County Commissioner Director Tom Arnone.
This is to reduce the amount of cars that have to use Newman Springs Road (Rt. 520) to enter or leave the Lincroft shopping center. Residents have long said Newman Springs is a major problem road in Middletown, something the Township agrees with and promised to make safer.
Currently, the service road is only one way for cars leaving the Acme shopping center onto Middletown-Lincroft Road (Rt. 50).
The county will now widen the service road and make it a two-way. A two-way center turn lane will be installed on Middletown-Lincroft Road, so cars can turn into the service road. A stop sign will be placed at the intersection. Also, sidewalks will be installed along the new Acme Road so people can walk to the Acme and Lincroft Plaza shopping center.
The whole point is to reduce car volume on Newman Springs, Mayor Tony Perry said last month.
"Once that road becomes a two-way, you can now come down Middletown-Lincroft Road and turn to get to either the Luigi's shopping center or the Acme shopping center," Perry said. "You will not have to go onto Newman Springs. The whole idea is to take traffic off Newman Springs."
Monmouth County is paying for the work (those are both county roads). The county will also install a new two-way vehicular driveway connecting Lincroft Grove to the Acme service road.
Middletown Mayor Perry said it "took years of negotiations" for the Township to get possession of the service road behind the Acme, which was necessary to turn it into a two-way street.
"This project will significantly reduce the number of crashes that could occur on Newman Springs," he said Tuesday.
Perry said it was resident Abe Littenberg, among many other Lincroft residents, who have been extremely vocal and are working with the Township to make Newman Springs safer.
"The number of incidents was something no one could deny," Perry said previously. "We had to improve traffic flow."
The number of cars on Newman Springs is only expected to increase now that LifeTime and the massive new Red Bank Veterinary Hospital are both open at the Parkway. Also, there's a new apartment complex coming to Newman Springs by the Parkway, One River Center, which is expected to have 340 apartments once it opens.
Ongoing Patch reporting on the dangers of Newman Springs Road in Middletown:
Woman Hit By Car On Newman Springs Road In Middletown (April 30) "She's lucky to be alive," mayor said. The woman, in her 30s, was struck by a car at 9:30 a.m. while trying to cross Newman Springs at Hurley's Lane. She sustained "significant injuries."