Cranford Completes New Pedestrian, Traffic Safety Upgrades

CRANFORD, NJ — Cranford finished a handful of pedestrian and traffic safety upgrades on Thursday in one of its most heavily trafficked areas, Mayor Terrence Curran says, but some residents still are questioning the process.

Construction and road striping at the intersection of Chester Lang Place and Georgia Street to improve lining in crosswalks and make them American with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant began on Oct. 13. This followed work at the intersection of Chester Lang Place and Walnut Avenue to upgrade the crosswalks that began just days earlier on Oct. 9.

"There is one corner we are re-evaluating to ensure it doesn't cause a problem with flooding before the entire project, which has been planned for some time now, is completed," Curran told Patch on Thursday.

Referred to as the "Chester Lang Project" by advocates and township leaders, the total upgrades include new ADA ramp locations, sidewalks, curbing, and striping along Chester Lang Place.

The "Lang Gang," as the advocacy group calls themselves, represents more than 40 households in the area of Chester Lang Place. Over the past year, members say they have been attending Township meetings and even organizing their own with Curran, Police Chief Matthew Nazarro, and other neighborhood leaders to address what they feel are "dangerous increases in traffic volume, driver recklessness, speeding, and pedestrian safety concerns" in the area.

Sam Prince with the "Lang Gang" advocacy group says these scaled-back improvements are a far cry from the earlier projects promised by Mayor Terrence Curran and other officials in May. The group claims that different bits and pieces of the plan continue to drag on with no confirmed dates for completion.

"Despite multiple meetings, near misses, and even an incident last fall," Prince told Patch, "where a driver nearly struck my newborn son in a stroller, the Township has yet to deliver meaningful safety improvements."

Curran agrees there were extensive discussions with the residents about this project but that adequate action was taken. "The police conducted speed studies, which you can find on the Cranford Police Traffic Bureau web page, a line of site study and engineering has been involved in the roadway changes."

On Aug. 19, resolution No. 2025-283 was approved in a Township Committee meeting that awarded a contract to Vali Construction, LLC for pedestrian safety and traffic improvements throughout Cranford. On Aug. 28, Curran shared with the group that the project was on track to begin no later than mid-September.

Prince says while his small residential street "has quietly become a high-speed, high-volume cut through," it's hardly the only area of concern.

"Cranford's existing bike-route signage, like the one at Glen and Lexington, has gone largely unmaintained...It's clear that Cranford residents want safer, more connected ways to get around."

According to Prince, after residents opened their yards for traffic studies and led the effort to get what was included in a $15,000 proposal from Collier Engineering on how to address these issues, the Committee's "approved recommendations have since been reversed without explanation."

Most notably, Belinda Prince, another "Lang Gang" member, points out that there is now a sudden absence of a crosswalk in the middle of Chester Lang Place from the plans.

"Aside from the Georgia (St.) crosswalk," Belinda says, these improvements, "focus primarily on upgrading existing infrastructure rather than meaningfully advancing safety." She goes on to ask Curran in a message shared with Patch, "to reconsider speed bumps or other common-sense traffic-calming measures that would help prevent the outlying, extreme speeds that should never be possible on residential roads like ours."

These and other upgrades, "which included making Chester Lang a one-way and a crosswalk at the bend in the road" were discussed with Cranford Police and engineers in June, says Curran. "They did not recommend either of these as a solution and felt we should proceed with the current project and reassess."

"We also recognize that the ADA crosswalk work at Chester Lang and Georgia Street has been in planning for quite some time, predating our advocacy and the Collier Engineering recommendations," Sam says. "It's important to clarify that these projects were entirely separate" from each other.

"Our community is simply asking for transparency, accountability, and follow-through on the safety measures we were promised."

In a message shared with Patch from Oct. 9, Curran said the Township is working with the County on paving and striping Walnut Avenue, but plans have not been finalized.

On Thursday, Curran replied to the latest concerns from the "Lang Gang" by email on which Patch and others were included, assuring them that "the project is being done according (to) the plans that have been shared with your group."

He reiterated in a conversation with Patch that, "The Chester Lang Gang was aware of all this and agreed with the plan until two days ago."

The Township Committee is scheduled to meet again at 8 p.m. on Oct. 21.

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