Permanent Road Barricades On Parsippany Road: What We Know

PARSIPPANY, NJ — Parsippany is still awaiting approval from the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) to install a permanent guide rail along a stretch of road on Route 46.

Two times this year, Parsippany Township police have been summoned to Smith Field after receiving a report that a car had come off the road and landed on the turf field.

In September, a 17-year-old girl said that she lost control of her car as she drove left from Southbound Baldwin Road onto Route 46 Eastbound. Her car veered off the road, colliding with the curb, two fences and a 6-foot-high retaining wall.

Following the collision, neighbors expressed worry about the proximity of the two car crashes at Smith Field Park, which is located near the intersection of Route 46 East and Baldwin Road and have questioned why the township has not taken any action on that roadway.

During the Sept. 19 town council meeting, Barberio stated that the chief of police had already put in a request for the NJDOT to come to Parsippany and assess Route 46 East, which they said would hopefully be done soon.

Three months later, it seems like that request has still not been completed.

According to Business Administrator Jamie Cryan, temporary barriers were placed in this area of Route 46 roughly three months ago by the township's public works department as a temporary measure while the town waits for the state to get back to them about placing permanent barriers there.

The township council and Mayor James Barberio have previously stated that Route 46 East is not a township road and is instead administered by the state, which means that all actions involving that route would need to be directed by the NJDOT.

According to Cryan, the Parsippany Police Department traffic division and the Engineering Department have reached out to the NJDOT on multiple occasions in the hopes that they would consider performing the following:

• a traffic study of the intersection
• change the traffic pattern and light sequence timing, and
• install a guide rail along Route 46 East (Smith Field).

They have yet to respond, township officials said.

"We continue to reach out and are very hopeful for a solution from the state," Cryan told Patch.