It’s only taken four years, but Essex County is finally holding a hearing on the addition of a traffic light to the intersection of Fairview and Personette avenues. The hearing has been set for Tuesday, June 25 at 7 p.m. at the West Orange Municipal Building at 66 Main Street.
In November 2020 Essex County said that it was getting $26.4 million in federal grants from the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority to make safety improvements at 39 intersections throughout the county. The projects were said to include pedestrian interval signals, which stop traffic in all directions to allow people to cross more safely.
Fairview Avenue is a county road but Personette belongs to Verona. Both roads are one lane in each direction at the corner, which has seen several accidents over the years. There is a crossing guard at the intersection when school is in session. The Fairview/Personette intersection is one of 12 projects that will be discussed at the hearing.
Fairview Avenue runs for 2.3 miles between Bloomfield Avenue and Pompton Avenue in Cedar Grove. There are traffic lights at either end, but currently only one light elsewhere on the road, at Keeney Street in K. Hovnanian’s Hilltop at Cedar Grove townhouse development. Verona residents have lobbied the county, unsuccessfully, for a traffic light at the corner of Fairview and Sampson Drive by Verona High School because of accidents there and the difficulty of making a left-hand turn from Sampson.
I care more about Linden/Fairview. In August of 1986 our car was hit on the way home from the pool. It was knocked onto someone’s grass. To this day Linden/ Fairview is dangerous!
Congestion… too many cars. Thats the problem.
I have lived in Verona all my life and I’ve never seen improvements to the traffic in all surrounding towns as well as ours. I can’t imagine what will work without actually creating more congestion.
The only reason the light is at Keeney Street and the Essex County park center is because its a Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. pet project. Funny how that worked out. We residents prove the other Fairview intersections are dangerous and no action.