Red Bank Closes Monmouth St Plaza, Increases Broad St Hours

RED BANK, NJ – Starting this weekend, Monmouth Street will be open to vehicle traffic on Sundays for the first time since the debut of a pedestrian mall in June. In its place, the adjacent Broad Street plaza will be open for four days out of the week, including Sundays.

The Monmouth Street section of the plaza did not draw a sufficient number of diners and shoppers, as reported by Red Bank Green. Several storefront owners have stated that the traffic closures were not helping business.

Many retailers located on Monmouth Street also opted to close on Sundays, which left the shopping area relatively sparse. The only businesses taking advantage of the road closures remained Jamian’s Food and Drink, Red Tank Brewing Company and Cee Lee Vi.

In other plaza news, “parklets”, or temporary cordoned areas of seated dining, are slated to come to several downtown establishments on Broad Street in the near future.

At a borough council workshop meeting last week, Business Administrator Ziad Shehady expressed that he aims to work with local police and the borough attorney to draft parklet guidelines to ensure pedestrian safety and Americans with Disabilities Act compliance.

On Thursday afternoon, concrete barricades were added to section off several outside dining spots to further separate pedestrians from traffic.

From Wallace Street to Front Street, Broad Street will be closed to vehicular traffic from 4 p.m. Thursdays to 10 p.m. on Sundays.

All tables, chairs, trash cans and other plaza fixtures will be removed from the street on Sunday nights. Broad Street will open to regular traffic starting at 5 a.m. on Mondays.

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