I agree. This has been a problem for years!

there is no room for widening there

Simply widen the bottleneck, the narrow crossing over Kettle Creek at the Brick/Toms River border.

Also widen Church Rd. & Kettle Creek Rd. for turning lanes by taking a few feet from adjacent business parking lots.

Thousands of Ocean County College people (as well as thousands of commuters and shoppers) get bogged down at this bottleneck every day.

Frank, your kind of thinking is why the politicians haven't done anything with all the tax money they get from the businesses and homeowners in that area, year after year.

They should spend a few bucks (and get state & towns to chip in, plus fed stimulus money) to save our gasoline, exhaust fumes and time. They could even levy an assessment for the widening project on the developer who's planning yet another commercial plaza on the west side of Rt. 549 -- I see the developer's "coming soon" sign every time I'm sitting in a traffic jam there!

This isn't rocket science. The Rt. 549 (Brick Blvd. & Hooper Ave.) bottleneck can easily be eliminated.

This problem should be a PRIORITY for the local, county and state highway officials, both elected and appointed.

It's right at the place connecting major business and residential destinations in Ocean County's 2 biggest towns.

It can be fixed -- if the authorities pay attention to what thousands of drivers encounter every morning and evening.

Biggest bottle neck in all of Ocean County! It's ridiculously busy at least 12 hours a day. Why aren't the highway robbers spending any of our tax dollars on fixing this mess?

The county takes our votes and our tax dollars for granted, so lotsa luck with fixing this bottleneck. Just look at all the pot-holes around Hooper, Brick Blvd., Church & Kettle Creek Rds. The politicians in their ivory tower don't get out to see what we deal with every day.

BEWARE of big, deep pot holes in and all around this heavily traveled bottleneck! You can sue the county for leaving this hazardous condition without necessary repairs -- GET BACK THE COST OF YOUR DAMAGED TIRES, WHEELS, ALIGNMENT, SHOCK ABSORBERS, ETC. For the lack of a little pot hole patching, it'll cost the county thousands of dollars. For the next car accident and injury, it could a lot more.

Get the engineers started on designs for widening it or building an overpass.

They need to add at least 1 through lane on both the north and south sides of 549 (Brick & Toms River), plus turning lanes on Church, Kettle Creek, Hooper and Brick Blvd. Cars back up at all hours of the day and night.

I am willing to contact the freeholders if there are enough people willing to sign a petition to get the road widened and fixed. If interested respond here.

I am for it.

This is far more than an issue of pot-holes. It's the only way to drive between the area's 2 busiest malls, it's a commuter artery for Ocean County's 2 most populous towns, and it's also the way to go from the county college campus to home or work for thousands of students.

They need to build a by-pass road, maybe through the campus -- like Beaverson and Shorrock do in getting traffic off Brick Blvd. and Rt. 70. Either take a few feet from commercial parking lots along Hooper, Church and Brick Blvd. to widen them, or (better) design a loop around the big bottle-neck.

To George, re:
George Kasimos wrote
I am willing to contact the freeholders if there are enough people willing to sign a petition to get the road widened and fixed. If interested respond here.

We appreciate your offer, but if they ignore 45 comments (so far, just among the few who visit this site), they'll probably ignore petitions. They'll claim some drivers who are inconvenienced are from outside Ocean County (and can't vote them back into office), they'll claim they have no money (because they're spending our tax dollars on their pet projects), or some other such excuses. Print out this site and send it to them for starters. (I suggest they grab a right of way around the cemetery and gas sta. for southbound Brick Blvd. drivers to get to the county college, as well as a few feet of land from the developer's empty tract. for 2 more lanes.)

To every driver who uses Kettle Creek/Church and Brick Blvd., it is up to us to raise holy hell and stand up to the politicans who claim they have no money to fix the roads because their tax dollars are being used on their "pet projects". I can only image. What kind of "pets" they are talking about. It is time for all of us locally and nationally to stop taking the political diahrrea coming out of these liars mouths and stand up and get the government to do what is right and stop being robbed of our hard earned money. I believe we need to met and start a revolution and get these theives out of office. Please contact me and let's form a group (and rid ourselves of all the garbage and start a new and get things done right). I'm sick and tired of being pushed into the poor house and being left with nothing being done with our hard earned money. Sign up on this page. Sick of it all.

Our "beloved" county freeloaders should get in their cars and drive north on Hooper and try to use the jug-handle at Church for a U-turn or to go to the county college entrance on Church. Two words: IM POSSIBLE! The ramp and turning lanes are a-l-w-a-y-s full of cars.
The same goes for all 3 other ramps and turning lanes at the intersection... plus all lanes on Hooper/Brick and Church are clogged with traffic most times of the day. This is Ocean Country's absolute worst!
Oh, I didn't even mention the huge pot-holes everywhere in the area.
It's long overdue for more lanes, or a bypass like the Beaverson-Shorrock escape route from Brick Blvd., or an overpass. Otherwise, just add a second deck for through traffic to avoid all the stores along Hooper/Brick. Something HAS to be done soon!

You said it: This is the absolute WORST in Ocean County year-round... Something has to be done soon!

It's too late for the spring-summer-fall crush of Bennies, but at least start planning now -- so we locals can feel better about getting around in future years. Otherwise many will move elsewhere.

Brick Plaza, Ocean County Mall, the college and Fischer Blvd. are doomed to traffic jams originating at this bottleneck if the "freeloaders" keep on ignoring it.

The quality of life and the economy in Brick and Toms River will suffer from their inaction.

You're right, this wins the booby prize for being the worst. Correction, the FREELOADERS win it... The roads on all 4 sides are the county's responsibility.

I drive up from southern Ocean County, and even the alternate roads I take (to avoid that infamous intersection) are clogged all around there.

The freeloaders have made a big move (for them, anyway): They put up signs directing Church Rd. vehicles to turn right 1 block before Hooper Ave. to take Hinds St. to Hooper southbound.

That's OK for the new vehicles which go south, but the bottleneck is from county college and other Church Rd. traffic turning left to go north -- so it's no help.

And Church Rd. signs do absolutely nothing to alleviate the daily mess on Rt. 549 (Brick Blvd. & Hooper Ave.) at the Church signals. TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE! Please widen Rt. 549 there to 6 lanes (as it is nearby).

My comment above should be "for the FEW vehicles which go south..."

Another sign our beloved freeloaders put up is "35 MPH" as Brick Blvd. becomes Hooper Ave. (all Rt. 549).

Good luck getting up to that "high" speed, with traffic jams keeping the avg. down to 20 MPH.

That's the only thing preventing fatal accidents there, as 3 lanes merge into 2 where they approach the traffic light. Widening is the only solution!

Take a few feet from businesses' parking lots to add a traffic lane and a turning lane on all 4 sides of the intersection.

We're all wasting time and gas every day!

Yeah, the right turn on Church Rd. to get to Hooper (549) and avoid the bottleneck is useless in solving the problem. Most drivers coming east on Church turn on Buckwald and cut thru the college campus to reach Hooper anyway. They get to OC Mall and Fischer Blvd. much faster that way.

It's the vast majority of drivers like me who have to turn LEFT on 549 to get to Brick Blvd. or Old Hooper (and any other roads to the north) that are stuck in traffic every day. The county should extend Buckwald to Hovsons or Yorktown or even Beaverson/Shorrock if they won't do anything to improve the ridiculously clogged Hooper.

HOOPER is a SUPER-DUPER BOTTLENECK!

The biggest problem with this bottleneck is all the traffic jams on Hooper and Brick Blvd., not just Church Rd.

Hooper-Brick connects the county's 2 biggest shopping areas and it's a main route to Seaside.

It's bad all year long, but here comes another summer when bad will become worse -- with still nothing done by the so-called highway experts... They're asleep in downtown Toms River, not out here where the rubber meets the road every day.

Buy 10 feet of unused land from the front of the Exxon station to build a southbound turning lane.

Buy 10 feet of empty land from the undeveloped site ("coming soon" offices and stores on sign), and the cemetery that's already cut in half by the highway.

Better yet, get the under-employed county engineers to design a widened Rt. 549 and side road ramps to fix this horrible bottle-neck once and for all.

It's not rocket science -- it's just common sense.

The left turn lane on Church rD. is backed up a half mile every day. It takes 15 mins. or more to turn north onto Rt. 549 Brick Blvd.

College traffic clogs up the area for all of us, because Church & Hooper are the only way out of here. Hooper and Brick Blvd. are squeezed down to only 2 lanes each way at Church.

SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE, PEOPLE!

Here's a solution, folks. Eastbound on Church, where it backs up all the way to Old Church Rd. on the way toward Hooper, TURN LEFT ONTO ADIRONDACK. It goes into Brick. Take 2 right turns and you'll be at Brick Blvd.

That short-cut avoids the big time-wasting mess at Church and 549. Someday maybe the county will wake up and make it a 4-lane route.

Sorry Frank, we pay taxes, way too high, and these taxes are suppose to fix these roads and not put us out of the way. Drive by any politicans house, and I will bet you, there is not one pot hole near their perfect home. Let's stop taking all the politicans crap and start standing up for ourselves. I'm sick of it!

Sorry, Gloria, but many of us have to go to and from work, the county college and the county's 2 biggest shopping areas -- with no time to sit in traffic jams, wasting time and gas, spewing fumes out our exhaust pipes, and raising our tress levels!

Cutting through a residential neighborhood is the only way to avoid the several traffic light cycles it takes to go left from Church Rd. to Brick Blvd., or vice versa, every day. I can't wait another few years for the freeloaders to wake up, smell the fumes, and finally widen the whole bottleneck. I recommend that everybody try using Yorktown and Adirondack to avoid the mess.

Maybe an outcry from residents of those streets will help our cause. Meanwhile, outta my way -- I'm going to work.

Hell, yeah! I'll cut through Adirondack to avoid that jam every day -- until the county widens Hooper, Brick Blvd., Church, Kettle Creek and all the small ramps that tie up traffic in that busy area. Who wouldn't?

HORRENDOUS GRIDLOCK! Besides all the traffic going straight on Hooper Ave. and Brick Blvd. every day, the ramps just aren't big enough to handle all the cars and trucks turning to and from Church and Kettle Creek Rds.

This might have been adequate back 50 years ago, but it's simply ridiculous now. WHAT A WASTE OF TIME AND GAS for all of us who live, work, shop and go to school in the Toms River region!

How about that Kamikaze entrance to Charlie Brown's Restaurant, or the gas station, or the drug store, or (appropriately) the FUNERAL HOME on the side roads? Meanwhile, empty land on Hooper and Brick Blvd. could be used for the lanes needed to fix this bottle-neck.

That Adirondack short-cut sounds like a way around it for me, at least once a day on my way to work.

ALSO PLEASE FILL THE POT HOLES AND SWEEP OFF THE LOOSE GRAVEL ON HOOPER.

You are all correct! Fill the pot holes with the "political diarhea coming out out of the freeloaders' mouths" and WIDEN the whole thing before the next strip mall is approved by those ignorant clowns in the county gov.

The Asbury Park Press ought to write a headline about this aggravating traffic problem, but no one dies here avery day only because we're going too slow to kill each other! They have money for red light cameras (ticket money-makers) but not a dime for the biggest traffic jam in the county.

It's definitely the biggest and most long-lasting traffic jam in the county. I wish I could avoid it somehow until they widen everything (someday).

County has ignored, or at least refused to respond to, over 100 complaints (just on this site alone) about that nasty bottleneck, which must be a record.

However, why can't the county at least fill the dozens of pot-holes at that location? It's pot-hole city!

Many holes elsewhere have been patched this spring, but nothing is happening at Hooper-Brick-Church-Kettle Creek. WHY THE DELAY?

Isn't anybody taking care of county roads any more? Are they too busy campaigning for the Primary Election to do their job?

No one dies because we're all going so slow or at a standstill in the daily traffic jams. Therefore, this mess gets absolutely no attention from the county.

Will somebody please take one for the cause?

I haven't been here since last fall, and I may go elsewhere because of the HORRENDOUS Hooper at BAD Brick Blvd. bottleneck!

Squeezing from 3 lanes to 2 lanes takes 15 mins. (each way), and then there's all the potholes.

The only thing close to the speed limit is the way Ocean County is going DOWNHILL FAST.

Why do Brick and Toms River drivers put up with this crap?

The Asbury Park Press ought to see if this is one of the most-complained-about road issues on this site... Then tell the politicians they're losing votes because they're ignoring what people want... Then compare county and town road budgets with the places that actually need work... Then tell the politicians where to spend our road money most effectively... Then open up the engineers' long-range master plans and tell politicians to put the Hooper-Brick Blvd. mess at the top of the priorities... Then write a story that will inform the public about the politicians' non-response, misguided pet projects, man-hours lost daily at this bottleneck, etc.

Do you think a single dollar in the new Ocean County multi-million-dollar capital improvement plan is going toward redesigning this mess and constructing an adequate intersection? Nope... nada... zilch... not a cent!

Thanks, freeloaders, for continuing to ignore the county's biggest bottle-neck so drivers will waste time and gas, pollute the air, and risk their safety every day.

WHEN WILL THEY GET IT?

Hey, here's the answer - They'll "get it" when they're out sticking their ugly political signs in the ground this fall around that intersection, trying to get our votes. (However, they'll like the fact that the daily traffic jams will give all of us lots of time to read their damn election signs.)

Speaking of signs, A DEVELOPER JUST PUT UP A SIGN ANNOUNCING WHAT HE'LL BUILD ON BRICK BLVD. & HOOPER AVE. - more stores & offices to clog up the area! MAKE HIM ADD 2 LANES before he gets county approval to develop the empty land!

AAARRRGGGHHH! No, I'm not a pirate... That's just my reaction to the daily tie-ups at this crossroads!
AAARRRGGGHHH!

GOOD NEWS & BAD NEWS: A big shopping center is coming to Hooper Ave. & Brick Blvd. next to the cemetery. There's a sign advertising it there. That's going to be bad for traffic, but it could be good for the bottlenecked roads.

Did the county require the developer to widen Rt. 549 when it approved the mall? Two more lanes and better traffic signal timing at Church Rd. would sure move cars along.

Press reporters, please find out for us frustrated drivers.

This is the most congested, most annoying -- no, most maddening -- place in the whole shore region!

PAT said it well: "The Ocean County politicians will 'get it' when they're out sticking their election signs in the ground this fall around that intersection, trying to get our votes. (However, they'll like the fact that the daily traffic jams will give us all lots of time to read their @#$% political signs.)" E-mail the freeloaders about your displeasure with this daily bottleneck.

The shopping-office center builder should be required to add 2 lanes to Hooper Ave.-Brick Blvd. before he adds to the problem.

Add a lane in each direction by making the developer of the shopping center (do we need another one?) donate a little land. The owner of the cemeteries already offered strips of land. Exxon, Charlie Brown's and CVS can spare some, too.

This is not just a problem spot in the tourist season (half of the year). The traffic bogged down every day in the holiday shopping season, because the bottleneck is between the Ocean County Mall and Brick Plaza, as well as other shopping centers, the county college, etc. WIDEN IT NOW!

Still a bottle-neck... morning and night... day after day... month after month... all year-round!

How much gas has been wasted? How much of our time has been wasted? How much longer do Ocean County residents (and summer visitors) have to wait for some sign of life and intelligence from the politicians?

Another accident Monday (mid-day) on Brick Blvd. where all those southbound lanes merge into just 2 lanes -- THE INFAMOUS BOTTLE-NECK. They don't even make the news because they happen so often.

When, oh when, will the county engineers design more lanes past the cemetery and new mall "coming soon"? When will the politicians fund construction? HELP!

You can't get from Hooper Ave. northbound to Church Rd. because the jughandle is always blocked by cars on Kettle Creek -- unless you wait for several traffic signal cycles. Who designed this mess?

Widen Church Rd. because traffic backs up quite a distance to turn left toward Brick Blvd. every day. Widen Hooper Ave. where it squeezes between 2 cemeteries (which offered the needed land to the county). This is the worst bottleneck in the region!

Still no action on the area's biggest traffic-jam bottle-neck -- no acknowledgement of problem by county freeholders, no engineering work, no funding... absolutely nothing. We're wasting gas & time every day.

Over 1,000 people are interested in eliminating this bottleneck, and many more who aren't aware of the Asbury Park Press ClickFix... they just endure the traffic jams every day! It's a big waste of our time and gas to go through the area. Fix it, freeholders!

Today's minor repairs on Hooper demonstrate how busy and how crucial this highway is to Ocean County. Traffic is backing up for miles northbound.

We need a jughandle from Brick Blvd. south to Church Rd., not another shopping mall. OC College attracts lots of cars every day. At the least, add a turning lane on the corner with the gas station.

The little jughandle from Hooper northbound to Church Rd. is pathetic. It's always blocked by Kettle Creek Rd. traffic. Hundreds of Green Island and apt. residents have Kettle Creek as their only in and out.

It's time for the county to fix that whole mess.

I guess we'll never see an overpass there, but how about widening Hooper & Brick Blvd. where it's pinched into 4 clogged lanes? The surrounding businesses could lose a few feet each, and they'll probably get more customers.

UH-OH! Some bldg. contractor put up a sign next to the shopping center developer's sign, so I guess Toms River and Ocean County politicians got their campaign contributions and the project will be built soon.

Look for construction traffic and mall traffic to clog up Rt. 549 in Brick and Toms River for years to come.

UH-OH! Some bldg. contractor put up a sign next to the shopping center developer's sign, so I guess Toms River and Ocean County politicians got their campaign contributions and the project will be built soon.

Look for construction traffic and mall traffic to clog up Rt. 549 in Brick and Toms River for years to come.

UH-OH! Some bldg. contractor put up a sign next to the shopping center developer's sign, so I guess Toms River and Ocean County politicians got their campaign contributions and the project will be built soon.

Look for construction traffic and mall traffic to clog up Rt. 549 in Brick and Toms River for years to come.

Instead of signs saying "The George Q. Buckwald Bridge is open/closed," the county should post signs saying "Hooper/Brick traffic is jammed as usual/less than usual."

3 lanes of Church Rd. are jammed every day, too -- mostly vehicles turning left to Brick Blvd. (north). Make 2 of them on Church left-turn lanes to clear up some of the jam.

The county spends our money for a traffic light at Church and Todd, but ignores the biggest bottleneck around. Typical politicians.

Widen Church Rd., Hooper Ave. and Brick Blvd. (between the 2 cemeteries) so there are more through traffic and turning lanes for all, and add a loop from 549 south to Church (around the gas sta./funeral home/office bldg.)

Now we're into the 5 most congested months of the year, when thousands of Bennies add to the daily traffic to and from the college, major malls, restaurants, gas stations, etc. surrounding that pinch-point. Ugh!

Buckwald clolsing for 2 weeks, so expect even worse traffic jams on Church Rd. at Hooper Ave. toward Brick Blvd.

County freeloaders and engineer are AWOL on this daily headache. You'd think that before Election Day they'd say or do something... Uncork the bottleneck at Hooper-Brick-Church!

Surveyors were working along the Church Rd. part of this ridiculous intersection. Maybe the county will at least add a lane there. No communication from the poiliticians...

Nope, nothing happening to fix this mess. Surveyors just working on boundaries of another shopping mall the county approved for this congested area. Now there will be more active driveways along Brick Blvd., Hooper Ave. and Church Rd. to add to drivers' misery. Thanks, freeloaders!

Much of the traffic clogging this intersection is due to drivers going to or from the nearest Garden State Parkway exit at Rt. 70 and the Seaside Heights area in the summer -- and also local Toms River residents year-round. The Parkway is missing a perfect opportunity to add exit and entrance ramps at Church Rd. and North Bay Ave. during its current construction project. Then locals wouldn't have to go out of our way at Rt. 70 and this jammed intersection, or go out of our way at the Parkway's Rt. 37 exit.

Hey, Ocean County politicians and NJ Turnpike Authority honchos, there are a lot of voters among the inconvenienced daily drivers here. How about bringing this area into the 21st century?

Hooper, Church, Kettle Creek and Brick Blvd. are all county roads, but county instead spent $1,000,000+ on adding a traffic light at Todd Rd. What politically connected crony lives there?

Church Road is in a major need for repaving. The road isn't a road but a car killer.

Church Rd. will finally be repaved so that traffic can get to the Hooper Ave. bottleneck more smoothly. Thanks for nothing, Ocean County!

Every day, for many years now, thousands of vehicles crawl through the Brick Blvd.-Hooper Ave.-Church Rd. traffic jams. When will this problem be addressed?

September repaving of Church Road provides a nicer funnel for the bottleneck! Now please address the real problem, Ocean County.

Even with most summer visitors gone, traffic jams up there every morning and every evening.
The county freeloaders have let this problem grow worse for decades...
I'm a "local" and I vote!

Hooper also floods in between the 2 cemeteries.

Maybe if that planned shopping center there is ever built, the requirements include widening the road by a lane on each side, plus entrance/exit lanes. Otherwise it'll just make the traffic jams much worse.

Nothing has changed for years, the traffic keeps getting worse, the same politicians and their minions keep ignoring the traffic jams and approving more shopping centers...

Brick Blvd. is backed up for 2 miles on summer mornings, and then again every weekday in afternoon drive time (local commuters).

Church Rd. is backed up with Brick=bound traffic past the Hinds Rd. jug-handle, so that locals can't get into line to cross Hooper Ave. and continue onto Kettle Creek Rd.

When will the county engineer and freeholders DO SOMETHING?

Millions of dollars are being spent this year on a turning lane for Squire at Hooper (what politician's pal lives there?), the College intersection (was that ever a problem before?) and Fischer at Hooper (OK, that one needs work) -- but not one nickel on Church/Kettle Creek at Hooper and the narrow part of Hooper connecting with Brick Blvd. The cemetery offered land for 2 additional lanes years ago, but the county continues to ignore this bottleneck!

Nothing has changed...

Why is so much work being done on Hooper by the county college, while the real problem is being ignored?

The Parkway pours Bennies directly onto Shorrock at Rt. 70, and then they drive directly to Brick Blvd. to clog up Hooper Ave. Why not take some of the land the cemetery offered and widen Hooper?

Why not make the developer of the shopping center (planned for that horrible location) donate land for a southbound lane?

Why not widen the end of Church Road so left-turning Brick-bound traffic doesn't block everyone going from the Walgreen's jug-handle and Hinds Road to Kettle Creek Road?

There, we've shown the county engineer how to solve the daily traffic jams here. Let's get some action!

It happens EVERY DAY, year-round, morning and evening. Millions of dollars were misspent on Hooper Ave. at College Drive, while Brick/Hooper still jams up daily with local residents' vehicles here. The synchronized signals haven't alleviated the bottlenecks. Add lanes now!

Letter to the Editor in today's ASBURY PARK PRESS:
https://www.facebook.com/AccuWeather/app/846324225411850?app_data=AccuWeather-Photo-Gallery

Correction on the above... here's the link to the LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

http://www.app.com/story/opinion/readers/2015/11/28/letter-road-widening-mandated-new-shopping-center/76466402/