Until our Borough Council actually does some work and convinces the State/County to build another interchange off Route 24, Chatham will always have this problem. Have you seen Main Street during rush hour? Brake lights as far as the eye can see which forces people onto the side roads where they speed. Same goes for the weekends. The Borough Council needs to fix the Main Street traffic problem and then we will see the amount of cars on the side roads materially decrease!

Engineering & Zoning Officer Vince DeNave assigned this issue to Chief Brian K. Gibbons

Chief Brian K. Gibbons assigned this issue to Sergeant Rick Jaremba

Thank you for your response. I have reviewed your complaint and would like to respond to each of your concerns.
In 2019, the Police Department has conducted 12 Special Enforcement details on Hedges Ave, to include the section of Weston Ave between N. Passaic Ave and Hedges Ave, in an effort to slow the speeding issue you mentioned.
As a result, 85% of the vehicles travelling on Hedges Ave are travelling at 28mph.
You may have noticed the speed boxes on your street. They gather the data we collect to determine the average daily volume, speed, high volume times, etc..
(Currently they may appear to be off, but they are not. We purposely turn off the display in an effort to gather the TRUE speed of the vehicles on the roadway)
While I appreciate your frustration of speeders on your street and motorists being inattentive while you are exiting your vehicle, it would be unfair to say that there is a lack of police presence or that no efforts have been taken to correct the problem.
It is actually quite the opposite. Out of the 128 streets in Chatham, Hedges Ave has received more attention then most others, specifically because it is a cut-through street, with high volumes of traffic.
While we have the ability to manage the speeding on Hedges, the volume of traffic has been much more challenging. There are more vehicles on Main St than ever, and thanks to GPS, and GPS direction Apps, vehicles are being funneled onto your street because it is the most efficient route.
Some ideas are being discussed to help deter or divert that volume elsewhere. Additionally a Hedges Ave resident has requested a meeting with us to discuss the problems on Hedges Ave, and a Hedges Ave traffic meeting is being held on January 21, 2020 at Borough Hall on the 3rd Floor Rm 301 @6:30 pm. You are welcome to attend.
Thank you.

.

Closed

In response to Sgt Jaremba's response-a few thoughts. A police presence is required at rush hour, not the middle of the day. I walk my dog at 6-6:40 am and 4:15-5. I can state that your officers are not there when the traffic begins to fly down Hedges.
2) Your statement that 85% of the vehicles are traveling at 28 mph is misleading. The boxes are placed next to several driveways. So those people pulling out are going slow, bringing down your average. Second, the people who live on the street go 25mph or below because we know that there are children playing in the driveways and on the street. So, if you eliminate them from your average, the rate of speed increases dramatically. Even if you accept that 85%, you admit that 15% of the drivers are over that rate and therefore speeding.
So I am not labelled one of those, here are two suggestions. First, a speed bump. Fairview Avenue has one and NYC has them all over in Queens, Staten Island and Brooklyn.
Second, if you make the entrances to Main Street from Hedges, North Summit, and North Passaic no left turn, staggering the hours,i.e., 6-7, 7-8, 8-9 you would disperse the amount of traffic on Hedges. Then on the rush hour in the afternoon, place a sign on Main Street before those corners prohibiting no right turn. Don't forget to put a sign on the Dunkin Donuts parking lot to prevent the cut-through. That would similarly stagger it, relieving the pressure as welll.
Terry Sweeney

Thank you. Many of your concerns and suggestions were brought up at the Hedges traffic meeting, and will be discussed further in the next long range traffic meeting.

Your concern reported to Chatham Borough has been completed and closed at this time. Please let us know if we can be of further assistance. Thanks for getting involved and bringing this to our attention!