Proposed safety improvements along one of the Jersey Shore’s busiest corridors are drawing strong opposition from residents and local leaders in Ocean County. The New Jersey Department of Transportation is developing a safety improvement project for a two-mile stretch of Route 35 in Lavallette and Ortley Beach. The agency says the project is intended to reduce crashes and improve safety for drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists. NJDOT is evaluating dozens of recommendations from a safety audit. They include lowering the speed limit to 25 mph year-round and reviewing parking in Lavallette, including whether some angled parking spaces should require drivers to back into spots instead of pulling in head-first. “They can’t even go in straight and you want them to back up?” Lavallette resident Rose Perez said. “I think we’ll have more accidents.” Among the proposals under consideration is changing the current traffic pattern, which now separates northbound and southbound traffic onto two different sections of Route 35. One proposal would allow two-way traffic on both sections of the roadway. “They’re very upset. Everybody’s upset,” Lavallette Borough Council President Anita Zalom said. “I don’t think they did a thorough enough investigation.” Lavallette Mayor Walter LaCicero said some recommendations are reasonable, while others are not. “Some of the ideas are okay, they’re acceptable to the borough, but a lot of them are just really crazy,” LaCicero said. The proposal to evaluate back-in angled parking also drew criticism from residents. “It’s just not practical. You pull past that spot, the guy behind you is going to pull up to you and you’re going to be arguing, ‘Move back.’ He can’t because there’s a mile of cars behind him,” LaCicero said. NJDOT was not available for an interview. The agency is holding public meetings on July 13 in both Ortley Beach and Lavallette to answer questions and gather public input. “I know everybody in town is coming to this meeting,” Perez said. The project remains in the concept development phase and no decisions have been finalized. This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC Philadelphia. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC Philadelphia journalist edited the article for publication. ...read more read less