Middletown Plans New Sidewalks, Special Lighting Along Kings Highway

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, the Congressman who represents southern Monmouth County in Washington, D.C., is working to secure $1 million to put in all new sidewalks along Kings Highway in Middletown, specifically the section where commuters walk along Kings Highway to get to the Middletown NJ Transit train station.

Additionally, once the federal funding is obtained, four other streets surrounding the Middletown train station will also get sidewalks, however Middletown said it was too early to say which streets.

"At this stage there are no specific plans or designs for any particular street," said Middletown Twp. administrator Tony Mercantante.

This will allow people to not only walk to the Middletown train station, but also the public library, Middletown Village Elementary School and the new Middletown town hall.

However, Mercantante cautioned that this entire project is still in its beginning planning stages.

“The goal of the project is to improve pedestrian access and handicap accessibility in the vicinity of Town Hall, Middletown Village School, and the Middletown Train Station, all while considering the value and aesthetics of the Middletown Village Historic District,” said Mercantante. "We are in the early stages of this federal funding process.”

This area of Middletown has seen increased pedestrian traffic in recent years, a number that is only expected to go up as more and more people use the new Township building — which just opened last month — or walk to school and the train station.

Also, special historic street lighting will be added to that area, in a nod to the rich history of Kings Highway, which was actually a major road used before and during the American Revolution and war for independence from Great Britain.

It is unclear what the lighting will look like, but it may be something such as historic lampposts.

“Because Kings Highway was first laid out nearly 400 years ago, it is ill-equipped to handle today’s modern pedestrian, bicycle and vehicular traffic,” said Congressman Smith. “These federal dollars will help create a safer and more complete sidewalk network for pedestrians accessing the Middletown Train Station, Middletown Village Elementary School, Town Hall and the Middletown Public Library.”

“Kings Highway is the heart of one of the oldest historic districts in New Jersey and it desperately needs these improvements to become a safer, more walkable area for our community,” said Middletown Mayor Tony Perry. “This funding is crucial to modernize the road so residents and visitors alike can safely access important Township assets such as our new Town Hall and train station. The proposed historic street lighting will also help Kings Highway remain aesthetically true to its past.”

The project also involves the reconstruction/repaving of Kings Highway from Rt. 35 at the new town hall to New Monmouth Road.

This is a major project planned for Middletown and it is too early to know a start date for when the work will begin, as the funding has not even yet been fully secured by Congressman Smith. Also, the project will most likely cost more than $1 million, so this is only a portion of the funding.

However, Smith's request cleared a major hurdle last week as the House Appropriations Committee approved all the projects championed under a congressional transportation spending bill. His funding request will be brought to the full House of Representatives vote in the next few weeks.

What exactly will happen:

• The excavation and remediation of deteriorated sidewalks
• The creation of new sidewalks where none exist
• The installation of ADA-ramps, detectable warning surfaces, a modular concrete retaining wall and split-rail fencing where necessary.
• Special historic lighting

Congressman Smith is a Republican who represents New Jersey's Fourth Congressional District. As part of this same request, he is also working to get $2 million in federal funding for mitigating flooding in the historic district of Eatontown near Wampum Lake.

History of Kings Highway in Middletown:

The colonial road known as the "King's Highway" was the baseline around which the town of Middletown was laid out. Kings Highway existed sometime before 1660, which is around when Middletown was founded.

The route is actually an old American Indian path known as the Minisink Path. Routes traversed by American Indians were favored by the colonists because of their proximity to higher ground surfaces away from ravines, steep slopes, bogs, streams and marsh. One of the first tasks of the new settlers was to clear and upgrade the path to meet the demands of the 17th century colonists.

The design of Middletown, with individual lots fronting the main road followed the New England system, whereby landowners resided on lots in the village, with most of their land situated on outlying lots. Many of the structures/sites built on the village lots along Kings Highway during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries still stand today. These include Christ Church (ca. 1836 on a ca. 1670 foundation), Old First Church (ca. 1832 on a ca. 1688 footprint), Dutch Reformed Church (ca. 1836), Old Presbyterian Burying Ground (ca. 1684), Truex Blacksmith Shop (ca. 1825), Marlpit Hall (ca. 1686), Taylor-Butler House (ca. 1853) and over a dozen, privately owned 17th, 18th and 19th-century dwellings.

Kings Highway was a major thoroughfare during the colonial period, even serving as the retreat route for British soldiers on their way to Sandy Hook Bay following the Battle of Monmouth. Along the way, they occupied the Old First Church building on Kings Highway for use as a barracks/hospital before leaving for Sandy Hook. The Anonymous Spy Map of Monmouth County, a fascinating document from the Revolutionary War that still survives, depicts King's Highway among other local roads complete with distances between houses to assist the local Tories (loyalists to King George) in their provisional raids.

Many of these Tories were direct descendants of the first settlers who owned lots along Kings Highway.

And believe it or not, before the Revolutionary War, pirates also used Kings Highway (pirates were actually quite active around Matawan, Aberdeen and Sandy Hook, where there is even rumored to still be buried treasure): Around the turn of the 18th century Moses Butterworth, a resident of Middletown and associate of the famed pirate Captain Kidd, escaped imprisonment and eventual execution from a blockhouse located on the site of Christ Church by traveling along Kings Highway toward Raritan Bay. In the early 18th century another pirate, Blackbeard and his band were in the process of raiding the town of Middletown for supplies. They were met by an angry mob of townspeople in a bloody confrontation on Kings Highway in front of Christ Church near the present-day Church Street intersection.

Source: Kings Highway: Middletown's Most Historic Road (written by Gerry Scharfenberger, former Middletown mayor and now state assemblyman)