SEAVILLE – Residents living along Stagecoach Road in the Seaville section of Upper Township recently woke up to some new and unfamiliar sounds that went something like thump, thump, rumble. They learned that the noise was coming from newly installed “rumble stripes” at a couple of intersections along this county road.
Responding to a Herald request for information about details, Upper Township Municipal Engineer Paul Dietrich said that he too was “not sure” about the rumble stripe positioning. Dietrich referred questions to Robert Church, Cape May County’s engineer.
When the Herald contacted Church, he provided a wealth of information about the rationales and operational workings of the rumble stripes.
He explained that “over the past three years, Cape May County has stepped up its traffic calming efforts at targeted locations along county roads. One of the measures that has been used is the installation of rumble stripes.”
“This installation of the rumble stripes and lane text along Stagecoach Road was completed in response to a previous request by the municipality for the county to undertake traffic calming along the
roadway due to past accident history,” Church said. “As a result, the county was able to lower the posted speed, close existing passing zones and extend no-passing zones, and install all-way stop conditions (AWSC) at the Stagecoach Road intersections with Butter and Church roads.”
“Prior to that, Stagecoach Road traffic was free flowing,” Church said. “The county has recently completed the maintenance paving of Stagecoach Road from Hope Corson to Tuckahoe roads.”
“Rumble stripes were added as the final traffic calming measure in order to provide awareness to motorists of the stop condition along Stagecoach Road. Stagecoach consists of a tangent (straight) alignment along its length of approximately four miles. A driver continues along this corridor free flowing without being required to stop at the numerous intersecting side streets, absent the two AWSC intersections.
“Such a condition can result in a driver who is unfamiliar with the roadway looking through the stop signs and not processing that a stop condition is approaching, particularly if the driver is distracted or impaired. The rumble stripes provide additional advance warning to the driver in such a situation.”
Continuing with his explanation, Church added justification for the resurfacing decision. “Also, with the completion of the new resurfacing, the quality of the driving surface of Stagecoach Road has now increased. The County recognizes that motorists will drive at a speed they consider appropriate and prudent, and not necessarily at the posted speed of 35 mph. Since speed enforcement in the township is under the jurisdiction of the state police whose resources are stretched, regrettably, we anticipate that traveling speeds will exceed the posted speed. This is another reason for the installation of rumble stripes.”
Church clarified the difference between rumble “stripes” and rumble “strips” which some might think are interchangeable but are not.
“Rumble stripes are different than rumble strips. Rumble strips are grooves that are cut into the asphalt and spaced continuously along the roadway at about 12” apart in the direction of travel, typically along the roadway centerline. Rumble stripes, on the other hand, are composed of thermoplastic marking material identical to that used at crosswalks and stop bars. This is a plastic-based material that is placed on the asphalt in three layers to a total thickness of 270 mils (1/4” thickness) in the form of transverse lines composing an array of 5 lines spaced at 24”. The rumble stripes provide the driver with a visual,
audible and vibration feel as they traverse the array. They are used in order to promote greater driver awareness of a roadway condition that requires a driver’s increased attention. They are typically used at
AWSC and in advance of curves that require greater driver awareness to negotiate,” Church said.
Providing further detail about the rumble stripes, Church explained, “the stripes are a standard New Jersey Department of Transportation design feature and have been in use for more than ten years in other counties throughout the state. Counties such as Cumberland County have installed rumble stripes at more than 100 applications.
“There are federal grants for roadway safety feature upgrades, including rumble stripe installations that are available. Cape May County has self-funded the installation of rumble stripes thus far in order to upgrade safety features at designated locations as soon as possible. Securing federal funds typically takes several years assuming that the application for federal funds would be successful in the first place.
“As a result, in order to ensure that targeted locations were addressed in a timely manner, the county opted to move forward in an expeditious manner and self-funded several locations since it involved public safety. Since the county has now addressed many locations of immediate concern, federal funding will be solicited for those additional locations that are not considered as imminent.”
Church provided the Herald with a listing of locations in the County where rumble stripes already have been installed in the last three years. These are:
- Ocean Drive (CR 621) in Wildwood Crest approaching Diamond Beach
- Fidler Road (CR 638) in Woodbine
- Seashore Road (CR 626) approaching the Bakley Elementary School
- Mount Pleasant Road (CR 670) in Upper Township
- Shunpike Road (CR 620) and Tabernacle intersection
- Shunpike Road (Cr 620) and Academy intersection (CR 639)
- Court House South Dennis Road (Cr 657)/Goshen Swainton Road (CR 646) intersection
- New Jersey Avenue (US 147) approaching New York Avenue- North Wildwood
- 96th Street bridge (Cr 657) leaving Stone Harbor
- Woodbine-Ocean View Road (CR 550)/Dennisville Petersburg Road (CR 610) approaching the roundabout
- Stagecoach Road (CR 667)
Summing up, Church acknowledged that, “generally speaking, residents have accepted the installation of rumble stripes, although a small percentage of residents initially lodge complaints when they first appear since it is a new condition, and the new roadway noise does take time to get acclimated to.
“The good news is that over time, the edges of the rumble stripes begin to get ‘traffic polished’ from wear which reduces the noise level over time. Our hope is that residents view the added noise as a minor inconvenience relative to the increase in safety to the traveling public in general, and specifically to the residents and their families who live near these target locations.”
Notwithstanding Church’s hopes that the rumble stripes and the noise they produce would soon be accepted by residents, their installation was the first topic of discussion at the Upper Township municipal governing body’s Oct. 24 meeting.
Committee member John Coggins queried Dietrich with “what’s going on with these rumble stripes? Neighbors are going crazy.”
Dietrich answered that because he did not have the details, he talked to Church about the situation who assured him it was a “safety measure for driver awareness and that the paint will wear down which will reduce the noise.”
But he said that has not been the case in other areas of the township.
Committee members agreed that the rumble stripes are “not at locations where we’ve seen any accidents and it’s a ridiculous measure as to where they’ve been positioned since we already have blinking lights and the intersections are four-way stops.”
Committee quickly decided that a letter in opposition to the stripes was in order. The letter to county commissioners will protest the installation of the rumble stripes, urging modifications, relocation and/or removal.
Thoughts? Email csailer@cmcherald.com
