Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Pedestrian Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Frenchtown hears crash data and presses for education, enforcement and engineering to improve pedestrian safety
Summary
Frenchtown officials reviewed more than a decade of crash data at a council meeting and discussed education, targeted enforcement and engineering options after a Jan. 30 pedestrian crash; the council extended its traffic and pedestrian safety committee to pursue recommendations.
Frenchtown’s public safety director told the borough council that 10 crashes were reported at the intersection under review between July 13, 2013, and Feb. 1, 2025, and that two involved pedestrians, including a Jan. 30 crash the department identified as caused in part by failure to yield.
“During the crash investigation … the most recent pedestrian crash investigation determined failure to yield right away as contributing factors for both the pedestrian and the involved vehicle,” Public Safety Director Mark Gantner said, summarizing the department’s findings and the data sources used (the New Jersey crash portal and the borough’s QED records-management system). Gantner said average daily traffic volumes at nearby corridors were about 2,200 vehicles on Everettstown Road and 5,500 on Kingwood Avenue and estimated roughly 31,000,000 vehicles traveled through the intersection during the analysis period.
The council heard a mix of short- and longer-term options. Gantner recommended a three-part approach drawn from state guidance: education and outreach (re-running a Street Smart pedestrian-safety campaign and posting safety materials), targeted enforcement (selective traffic assignments and complaint-driven details), and engineering studies to evaluate countermeasures such as LED signage, flashing stop signs, crosswalk tables, rapid rectangular flashing beacons (RRFBs) and, if warranted by engineering analysis, a full traffic signal.
Chair said the borough will pursue the issue through its advisory and grant process. “We go through a process when we do these larger grant projects of making sure that we’re thinking things through such as curbing, sidewalks, signage,” the chair said, and asked the council’s working groups to consider enhancements to crosswalks along Kingwood Avenue after receiving preliminary consent from Hunterdon County to make borough-funded changes where the county permits.
The chair also raised a separate revenue idea to support ongoing safety and maintenance work: “I think we very strongly should look at parking meters in the Frenchtown borough as a means to generate alternative revenue to support safety enhancements in the downtown,” the chair said, adding that the council prefers alternatives to raising property taxes.
As a near-term step, the council approved resolution 2025-45 to extend the traffic and pedestrian safety committee so staff and committee members can pursue the education, enforcement and engineering recommendations and pursue related grant opportunities. Council members expressed support for using larger grant projects to “piggyback” smaller local improvements and for ensuring reporting and public outreach accompany enforcement efforts.
Next steps: staff said they will circulate the crash report and a memorandum summarizing engineering options, and the extended committee will review funding pathways and grant timelines at a future committee meeting.
