Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-07-18
THE TRAFFIC CONGESTION

With the experience of Sunday when the traffic Jam
through this city was the worst yet experienced, almost get
ting beyond the control of the police in spite of the fact thai
there were ten traffic officers on duty, it is plain that some
thing will have to be done to solve this problem. AS far as
Perth Amboy is concerned, serious consideration must be
given to providing q route through this city that will take
care of the rush. Every year sees more and more automo-
biles on the highways; automobile manufacturers are not
able to turn the cars out fast enough to meet the demand
One can only imagine what the condition will be by the time
the new state highway bridge over The Raritan is completed.
But it is the duty of the municipal authorities to use
their imagination a little in this regard and plan now for the
future. The enormous traffic that will be coming over the
state highway bridge three or four years hence can only &c
conjectured. That it will be even greater than i: is today
goes without saying. And if the traffic today is more THAI
can be cared for, what is the answer?
In the first place, every crossing possible ought to be
eliminated. The approach to the bridge ought to be carried
over Smith street instead of being brought down to grade, as
is now the plan. The COnvery place bridge, which, by The
way, will be entirely too narrow, will carry the traffic over
the Lehigh Valley tracks. North of New Brunswick avenue
the city has an excellent opportunity to construct a highway
400 feet wide all the way out to the road to Woodbridge.
Cleveland avenue is not yet developed and this is the logicol
route for the through traffic.
With Cleveland avenue 100 feet wide leading up to the
Convery place bridge, and with the approach to the new
bridge across the Raritan carried over Smith street, th,s
city would experience no such congestion as it had on Sun
day. 1t would solve a great municipal problem, lessen the
number of traffic officers required and thereby save the tax
1uyers much expense. Now is the time to plan for the DC
velopment of Cleveland avenue even though the development
does not take place for several years yet.
This is only another one Of the important problems be-
fore the Board of Aldermen that requires men of vision ac
ability to work out. 1t is something that means a great deal
for Perth Amboy.
AS far as the state highways are concerned, the Stale
Highway Commission is wasting money by constructing
roads the same width as at present, especially on such in
portant routes as the Lincoln Highway and Route No. i,
leading to the coast resorts These important arteries Of
traffic must eventually be IUl wide enough to have two
roadways, one exclusively for trucks and slow moving We
hicies, and The other for the fas r cars. With the eXcep-
ton of the lowering of gates for railroad grade crossings,
the cause OF the greatest jams is the slow moving truck or
horse and wagon creeping up a grade while the so-caned
pleasure cars pile up behind unable to pass because of The
constant flow of traffic in the opposite direction, the high
WAYS being wide enough only for two lines of traffic.
The spectacle Sunday of a string of cars standing in a
line practically all the way from the Raritan river bridge to
Keyport, a distance of seven or eight miles, unable TO move,
is evidence enough that something has got to be done to
held there indefinitely by the state police because the drivers
GOT out of line in an effort to get ahead.
This traffic problem is one of the most serious con-
fronting the slate of New Jersey and every county and mum
cipality in the state. Situated between two of the largest
cities on the continent, which are just across the border,
and with coast resorts and mountains to draw the crowds OF
Measure seekers, the highways of New Jersey are, perhaps,
more contested than any other slate in the Union. With
the number of automobiles increasing every year and the
roads becoming more and more crowded, it is foolish to con-
ilnue building roads as at present. When automobiles are
held I'D i'm Newport because of something that is happening
in Perth Amboy it is time to look into the future and make
plans accordingly.
THE RUSSIANS GO HOME