{"id":18293,"date":"2026-01-09T07:34:53","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T12:34:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/?p=18293"},"modified":"2026-01-09T07:34:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T12:34:53","slug":"state-officials-mull-two-mile-route-35-improvement-project-drawing-skepticism-in-lavallette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/2026\/01\/state-officials-mull-two-mile-route-35-improvement-project-drawing-skepticism-in-lavallette\/","title":{"rendered":"State Officials Mull Two-Mile Route 35 ‘Improvement’ Project, Drawing Skepticism in Lavallette"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Route<\/a>

Route 35, Ocean County. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n

New Jersey transportation officials are in the beginning stages of developing a plan to make changes to about two miles of Route 35 with the aim of improving safety for motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians, however the plan has been met with fear from Lavallette officials who say some of the initial proposals could have negative consequences during heavy summer traffic periods.<\/p>\n

The state Department of Transportation confirmed to Shorebeat this week that it has two projects in development for Route 35 \u2013 a long-planned effort to improve the “S-Curve” at the entrance ramps to the island from the Route 37 bridges, and a newer plan to implement a “safety improvement project” along a two mile swath of roadway between Barnegat Avenue in Seaside Heights and Kerr Avenue in Lavallette.<\/p>\n

Two Miles of Change?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Steve Schapiro, NJDOT spokesman, said letters were sent to Ocean County, as well Lavallette, Seaside Heights, and Toms River in October, informing them that the agency has started a Concept Development Study for a safety improvement project along two miles of Route 35, from Barnegat Avenue in Seaside Heights (mile post 3.42) through Toms River, to Kerr Avenue in Lavallette (mile post 5.42).<\/p>\n

“The objective is to analyze and identify the best alternatives to enhance safety for all users,” Schapiro said. “The letter requests information from the towns regarding any development plans, traffic studies, bicycle\/pedestrian plans, or other information that might be relevant.”<\/p>\n

While the state has not committed to any concrete changes to the highway, Lavallette officials said informal discussions of several aspects of a potential plan have raised concerns. At a borough council meeting last month, Mayor Walter LaCicero described an idea to require vehicles parking along Route 35 North in Lavallette’s downtown business district to diagonally back into parking spaces in order to accommodate a bicycle lane \u2013 a policy local officials believe could confuse drivers, cause cars to back into each other, and delay traffic while motorists try to angle their vehicles into spaces while in reverse.<\/p>\n

Another potential idea apparently floated by state officials would be to create parking opportunities on Route 35 South, which raised additional concerns. But other portions of the plan would also establish additional bike lanes and add more sidewalks and ramps in the work area, which would likely be welcomed by many visitors. Local leaders remain skeptical, however, since in the past, bicycle lanes were placed on the left side of the roadway.<\/p>\n

\"Route<\/a>

Route 35 South in Lavallette. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n

Police Chief Christian LaCicero met with NJDOT officials and walked through portions of what would be the project area, and told council members he had concerns that highway engineers and planners from out of town did not understand the seasonality of Lavallette’s population and were not aware that the speed limits change on the highway before and after the busy summer season. Most of the concerns, however, stemmed from the decision to end the project at Kerr Avenue.<\/p>\n

“It’s like they just chose a random street,” said Councilwoman Joanne Filippone. “It would be absolutely chaotic.”<\/p>\n

Soliciting feedback from borough officials, however, was the goal of sending the correspondence in the fall, according to the DOT. The state agency has not committed to any plans, and is merely in the “concept development” phase to plan future improvements \u2013 the “first stage” of a project that would be subject to more input from officials, public outreach and input from engineers with safety in mind.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s premature to discuss project specifics, as it is just beginning the information gathering effort to come up with possible alternatives,” said Schapiro.<\/p>\n

S-Curve Project Remains in Planning<\/strong><\/p>\n

The other project \u2013 improving the ‘S’ curve at the entrance to the barrier island and improving visibility for drivers \u2013 has been a known commodity for several years, with the state having completed several acquisitions of property over the last several years in the run-up to the long-planned improvements.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The southbound entrance to the barrier island along Route 37 to 35. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The<\/a>

The southbound entrance to the barrier island along Route 37 to 35. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n

The plan to reconfigure the highway has discussed for well over a decade, but Superstorm Sandy \u2013 and the urgent need to reconstruct Route 35 following the storm \u2013 largely put the effort on the back burner. Since the rebuild was completed, state officials say they have utilized eminent domain to take three residential properties in full, and another partially, and have begun a formal study of the area and design the new approach.<\/p>\n

According to a planning document released by the state, the new configuration will center on the \u201cS-curve\u201d that traffic must follow when exiting the bridge to the south, or traveling the bypass from Seaside Heights into Seaside Park using the highway.<\/p>\n

\u201cCurrently, this movement consists of making a tight double horizontal curve in the shape of an \u2018S,’\u201d a 2022 report said. \u201cThe geometric concerns associated with the S-Curve were identified during the development of the original (pre-Sandy) project. The preferred solution was to replace the S-Curve with a smooth single curve.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The highway entrance to Seaside Heights, N.J. (Photo: Shorebeat)<\/p><\/div>\n

The highway loop wraps around three blocks of residential properties, and the straightening of the S- Curve required taking the three properties in full and one partially. The process of the takings could not have been completed in time to reconstruct the highway after Sandy, a project that was desperately needed after portions of the roadway were completely destroyed.<\/p>\n

This project is now in its “preliminary engineering” stage, said Schapiro.<\/p>\n

“The proposed project would replace the existing S-curve by building a connecting ramp with a single smooth curve,” he said. “This would enhance safety for the connection to Route 35, reduce highway traffic on local roads, and foster community cohesion.”<\/p>\n

Schapiro added that it is still premature to discuss the details of the S-Curve project as well, since engineering studies are still being conducted.<\/p>\n

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New Jersey transportation officials are in the beginning stages of developing a plan to make changes to about two miles of Route 35 with the aim of improving safety for motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians, however the plan has been met with fear from Lavallette officials who say some of the initial proposals could have negative […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,2,92,5],"tags":[1959,29,19,41,20],"class_list":["post-18293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lavallette-government","category-lavallette","category-ortley-beach","category-seaside-heights","tag-featured","tag-lavallette-nj-news","tag-ortley-beach-nj-news","tag-route-35","tag-seaside-heights-nj-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/lavallette_route_35_south_37.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgsn9q-4L3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18293"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18294,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18293\/revisions\/18294"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}