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Sept. 30, 2005

Safe Streets to Schools Program will fund innovative in-pavement lighting system

Woodbridge Township will receive a $100,000 grant from the New Jersey Department of Transportation to install innovative crosswalk lighting systems at three busy intersections in downtown Woodbridge, Mayor Frank G. Pelzman has announced .

The grant comes from the Safe Streets to Schools Program that provides funds to help local governments improve safety conditions for school children and other pedestrians.

“This upgrade will significantly enhance the safety of several hundred students on their way to and from school,” says Mayor Pelzman, “along with the more than 2,500 downtown shoppers and bus/train commuters who traverse this area on foot each day.”

The project will install state-of-the-art, in-pavement LED lighting systems at three heavily-trafficked crosswalks in downtown Woodbridge: Main and School Streets, the NJ Transit Main Street underpass, the NJ Transit Green Street underpass.

 In-pavement LED lighting systems utilize a series of signal heads with light emitting diodes in a durable housing embedded in the roadway. A pedestrian can activate the system by pushing a button, or the system can be automatically activated when the pedestrian passes through an activation zone breaking an optical beam.

The technology has been approved by Federal Highway Administration and is used by municipalities across the country. Studies show that the systems are effective in both increasing the number of drivers that yield to pedestrians and the distance from the crosswalk where drivers apply their brakes.

The project was suggested by 1 st Ward Councilman Charles Kenny in response to resident concerns. “The adminstration and I are always looking for ways to improve pedestrian crossings in the downtown business district,” says Councilman Kenny. “We are very pleased the state is able to help us in this task.”