44TH STREET: MAPLEWOOD'S FORGOTTEN ROAD REVIVED

As changes are coming to the areas around Springfield Avenue east of Boyden Avenue -- with plans for a 235-unit apartment complex at the former PSE&G site and the planned opening of a large Wawa Market at Springfield Avenue and Chancellor Avenue -- one area facing perhaps the biggest impact is 44th Street.

This short stretch of road between Chancellor Avenue and Jacoby Street has been known in the past as a dark, trafficky, dangerous place. But since the Township began experimenting with a one-way designation more than a year ago, at the request of residents, life has changed, they say.

Several of them spoke up at Tuesday night's meeting where the governing body considered an ordinance to make the one-way designation permanent. Homeowners there said traffic is down, crime is down and property values are up.

But after some other residents living nearby offered concern that the permanent designation could impact them, TC members showed reluctance to make the designation final.

In the end, however, the TC agreed to implement a permanent one-way designation after Mayor Vic Deluca suggested the approval include a "sunset" clause that would end the designation after two years, in August 2017, so that it could be reviewed again.

See the TC members comments below, with Mayor Deluca offering a very forceful argument at the end for his approach, an approach that was ultimately approved unanimously.