Politics & Government

Kings Road Residents Slow to Return Survey [VIDEO]

A month after surveys went out, council member says about half have responded.

Council Member James Collander urged Kings Road residents to send their responses to a survey from the Traffic Safety Committee on traffic practices along the road.

, the committee decided to deliver surveys to residents of Kings Road asking their opinions on how the road should be handled.

Collander said Borough Engineer Vincent DeNave hand-delivered about 40 surveys asking residents about safety and speed control devices, "so we can try to get a consensus from the residents."

Find out what's happening in Chathamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

As of Thursday morning, Collander said about 65 percent, or approximately 26 residents, have sent responses. When the Chatham Borough Council met on Aug. 8, only eight residents had responded.

"We're going to go and try to round them all up within a week or so," Collander said.

Find out what's happening in Chathamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

He said the committee hopes for at least three-fourths of the approximately 40 residents to respond, but "there's already a consensus emerging" from the 20 responses received, Collander said.

Kings Road, which runs parallel to Main Street, had a posted speed limit of 25 miles-per-hour, which Collander said in a previous interview is almost impossible to maintain. ""People simply almost are incapable of going 25 miles per hour on that road," Collander said.

Some residents who attended the meeting in July suggested the following approaches:

  • Constructing an island in the center of the road, which was not a popular decision among those present;
  • Condensing the size of the road, which would make drivers more cautious but also necessitate sidewalks on both sides of the street;
  • Adding blinking, solar-powered flashing lights that display the speed limit;
  • Using a radar gun that displays the driver's speed to deter going above the limit;
  • Adding road tables to the street, which act in the same manner as speed bumps.

Chatham Borough Mayor Nelson Vaughan said he expects the town will apply for a grant this year to do approximately $250,000 of improvements on Kings Road.

"People [need to] voice their needs and desires so we won't get a lot of negative feedback for what we do decide to do," Vaughan said.

Meanwhile, Vaughan said the police will do what they can to slow drivers on Kings Road. In addition to monitoring the road for speeders and administering tickets, they may also periodically park an unmaned police car on the street.

Collander said the Traffic Safety Committee will likely not meet again until after a significant number of the residents have responded to the survey. He hopes it will occur no later than the end of August.

As of Wednesday evening, no date for the meeting has been decided.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Chatham