TRAFFIC ALERT: If You Drive Hooper Avenue, Take Note Of These Changes

Beginning Friday, motorists will no longer be able to make left turns onto Hooper Avenue at College Drive and at Fischer Boulevard.

The change, being implemented by the Ocean County Engineering Department, is part of traffic improvements being made to reduce travel time on Hooper Avenue, one of the main thoroughfares in the northern part of Ocean County, according to a news release from the Toms River Police Department.

Traffic instead will be diverted to new jughandles in order to go north or south on Hooper Avenue, said Ralph Stocco, spokesman for the Toms River Police Department.

Additionally, there will be a change in the timing sequence for all of the traffic lights along the entire length of Hooper Avenue and Brick Boulevard, Stocco said, from the intersection of Hooper Avenue and Water Street in downtown Toms River all the way to where Brick Boulevard intersects Route 70 in Brick.

The timing sequence change will begin Monday, May 4, and should be completed by May 8, officials said.

The goal of these projects is to have a 10 to 15 percent reduction in the travel time for motorists using that road.