LOWER TOWNSHIP — A month-long police study of traffic along Seagrove Avenue near Cape May Point cataloged a lot of traffic but not a lot of excessive speeding, the township manager says.
The study, which logged the speeds of 24,419 vehicles, was done in response to concerns about speeding along the avenue, which is used a shortcut to Lighthouse Avenue in Cape May Point.
“It didn’t seem like the study showed excessive speeding, just a lot of traffic,” Manager Mike Laffey said. “We are discussing the possibility of placing speed tables in that area but haven’t done it as of yet.”
“If we do place the speed tables it might not be for a couple of months,” Laffey said, which would push the project out to near or after the end of the summer season.
Dr. Ben Werner, representing Seagrove Avenue residents at the April 15 Township Council meeting, said the residents had signed a petition asking for the township to install speed humps — essentially the same thing as speed tables — along their street.
The National Association of City Transportation Officials website says traffic humps are 3 to 4 inches high, have a slope of 3 to 6 feet and are designed to slow vehicles down to between 15 and 20 mph.
Laffey said that as a result of the study, the Police Department has identified the times best suited for enforcement, as it has done in other “hot spot areas” in the township.
Deputy Police Chief Don Vanaman said, “The results identified a few patterns that we can address through radar speed enforcement, which has begun.”
Laffey said he understood the street was a cut-through to get to Cape May Point, and he uses it himself.
Call Christopher South at 609-886-8600 x-128 or email csouth@cmcherald.com.
