{"id":18633,"date":"2026-06-08T11:53:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T15:53:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/?p=18633"},"modified":"2026-06-08T11:53:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T15:53:22","slug":"plan-to-split-route-35-require-diagonal-reverse-in-parking-in-lavallette-to-get-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/2026\/06\/plan-to-split-route-35-require-diagonal-reverse-in-parking-in-lavallette-to-get-hearing\/","title":{"rendered":"Plan to Split Route 35, Require Diagonal Reverse-In Parking in Lavallette to Get Hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Lavallette's<\/a>

Lavallette\u2019s downtown business district. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n

A plan that would split Route 35 into a two-lane roadway in each direction, require back-in diagonal parking and reduce the speed limit to 25 m.p.h. even in the winter will be the subject of a hearing next month in Lavallette.<\/p>\n

The plan, which is yet to be finalized by the state Department of Transportation, was floated late last year and announced to the public in January after a team from Trenton surveyed the roadway in the off-season. Mayor Walter LaCicero said despite vehement objections from borough officials and its police chief, certain controversial aspects of the plan have survived and are expected to be presented during a meeting that will be held at borough hall in July. LaCicero said the plan emerged after someone at the department determined that there were too many accidents on the roadway.<\/p>\n

The aspect of the plan drawing the most concern is a purported action that would see the re-painting of parking space stripes along Route 35 North in Lavallette\u2019s business district to face the opposite way of traffic. This would force vehicles to pass the space in which they want to park, place their car in reverse while in the lane of traffic, then back into the space on a diagonal trajectory. LaCicero said such an arrangement in Lavallette would crate \u201cmadness\u201d since cars already stack up in bumper-to-bumper fashion during the summer months, which could cause perpetual delays when vehicles must stop while a driver backs in. There are also concerns it could lead not only to road rage incidents, but a high number of accidents when drivers bump other vehicles while awkwardly attempting to pull into the space on an angle from ahead.<\/p>\n

Some transportation engineers believe such parking styles are safer since they force drivers to pull out of a space without nudging their way into traffic, and is also safer for people in bike lanes \u2013 which would also be part of the Route 35 plan \u2013 but opponents argue that reverse-in diagonal parking causes traffic jams and would spike the number of minor fender-benders to which police would have to respond. In New Jersey, two municipalities have such parking layouts \u2013 Hoboken and Sea Bright.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt only takes one person at a state agency to push something like this,\u201d said LaCicero. \u201cApparently, according to the chief of police, this is still on the table even after we voiced our displeasure.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is not the first time the state has proposed such a configuration. After the highway was rebuilt following Superstorm Sandy, a similar measure was under consideration, but was ultimately scrapped after objections from local leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey suggested it to us back then, and at the time, there was only one other town in the entire state that adopted it,\u201d he said. \u201cI told them we would never, ever support that change \u2013 but it\u2019s their highway.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Route<\/a>

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

The plan would also include separate tinkering with the state highway, including possibility of making a large portion of it through Ortley Beach and Lavallette travel in both directions on both sides of the roadway. Under this proposal, what is now Route 35 North and Route 35 South would have two-way traffic. At some point \u2013 which was originally believed to have been Kerr Avenue in Lavallette, but now is thought to be a street farther north in Ocean Beach \u2013 the roads would re-align back to a divided highway, maintaining the traditional layout of two lanes in each direction, separated by a city block.<\/p>\n

Finally, an aspect of the plan that has raised the ire of officials would see the highway\u2019s speed limit permanently reduced to 25 m.p.h. While some elected officials over the years have, indeed, advocated for a lower speed limit than 35 m.p.h. in the summer season, the idea of forcing sparse traffic to move at just 25 m.p.h. in the dead of winter was lambasted by LaCicero.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were poking around in the dead of winter, talking to our chief, talking to Toms River\u2019s chief about safety issues,\u201d he said. \u201cThey said they were stunned there weren\u2019t more pedestrians given the data they apparently had. I simply suggested they come back again on the Fourth of July.\u201d<\/p>\n

The same team from the state also questioned why the town changed speed limits on the highway seasonally \u2013 even though their own agency, not the borough, sends crews to make the changes in mid-fall when traffic declines.<\/p>\n

While the bulk of the realignment proposal is generating backlash from local residents and officials \u2013 there were no speakers in favor of it at a council meeting last week when it was announced \u2013 some aspects of the wider safety proposals drew the endorsement of local officials. One, for instance, is a plan to place a guardrail outside the Lavallette Elementary School property to reduce the risk of a vehicle impacting the building. Another would be the realignment of some of the northern lanes in Ortley Beach where the highway ultimately connects to the Thomas A. Mathis Bridge and serves as an outbound route for tourists heading to the Garden State Parkway.<\/p>\n

\u201d People are coming out of Seaside, and they see a sign for the bridge and have to cross over three lanes,\u201d LaCicero said. \u201cThere could be something worthwhile to do there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A \u201cDo Not Enter\u201d sign on Route 35 north, facing in the southward direction to deter wrong-way drivers. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n

The mayor said he also suggested a plan to remove handicap ramps that were installed at the time of the post-Sandy reconstruction and replace them with traditional ramps that are accessible for wheelchairs but more smooth for pedestrians. He said trip-and-fall injuries have been spurred by the bumpy surfaces that the \u2013 at the time \u2013 newly-styled ramps included.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did suggest that the handicap ramps on the corners be eliminated, because they are a trip hazard and we\u2019ve had several people injured,\u201d he said. \u201cWe asked them to do a standard ramp in both directions, but at the time they said this was a coming trend, and they did it anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

A separate \u2013 but related \u2013 plan would also see the reconfiguration of the southbound entrance lanes of the Stanley E. Tunney Bridge to the island near Seaside Park. That plan is aimed at removing portions of the \u201ccurve\u201d coming onto the island, improving sight lines and better managing traffic.<\/p>\n

The meeting on the highway reconfiguration and improvements will be held July 13, 2026 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Lavallette borough hall, 1306 Grand Central Avenue (Route 35 North), on the second floor.<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A plan that would split Route 35 into a two-lane roadway in each direction, require back-in diagonal parking and reduce the speed limit to 25 m.p.h. even in the winter will be the subject of a hearing next month in Lavallette. The plan, which is yet to be finalized by the state Department of Transportation, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5577,"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_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],"tags":[1959,29,3036,41],"class_list":["post-18633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lavallette-government","category-lavallette","tag-featured","tag-lavallette-nj-news","tag-reverse-in-parking","tag-route-35"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/lava_biz.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgsn9q-4Qx","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18633","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=18633"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18639,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18633\/revisions\/18639"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}