The Dying Outcry Over Route 35 Bottleneck

In the summer and fall of 1971 it was an idea whose time had come. The state needed to widen Route 35 in Bay Head and Mantoloking to eliminate the summer traffic bottleneck caused when four lanes of the state road north and south of those shore resorts turned to two lanes.

Forty years have passed and all that has changed is the uproar. Motorists are still stalled in the morning going south on the Barnegat Peninsula, and going north in the evening on busy summer days.

It seemed in 1971 that just about everyone wanted the road widened – except those who lived in Bay Head and Mantoloking- especially those whose homes would be taken to widen the road. There was talk of using the old railroad right of way, just that, talk.

The dynamo behind the campaign to widen the highway was Mrs. Donald Serventi of Cranford and Lavallette. Yes, she always identified herself that way, signing her broadsides, letters, and petitions as chairman of the Citizens Concerned Committee.

Her concern was that with the state spending millions of dollars on bridges linking Toms River and Seaside Heights, and the bridge to Point Pleasant, more drivers would be using the same narrow stretch of Route 35.

Officials in the besieged towns mounted effective defenses against the four lane highway with the calm efficiency of those who knew “this too shall pass.’’

They had few allies. Amassed against them were not only Serventi and the 23,000 people who signed her petitions calling on the state to widen the highway, but officials in the towns north and south of the bottleneck.

She claimed it was the “political and financial influence of a few,’’ that had stopped construction of a four-lane highway at Mantoloking.

Dover Township Mayor Ernest A. Buhr wrote a letter to state Transportation Commissioner John C. Kohl, calling for action “to rectify this most pressing problem.’’

The bipartisan Dover Township Committee adopted a resolution saying the need for dualizing Route 35 was “blatantly obvious…and could be accomplished without inordinate cost.’’ They wanted the DOT to make the project “a top priority and to make immediate plans for the construction of an additional lane to said highway.’’

State Sen. John F. Brown of Lakewood and Union County Assemblyman Joseph J. Higgins contacted Kohl, lobbying for the widening project. Kohl said the state was updating its master plan and because of the “recent widespread interest’’ in the dualization, might add it to the master plan so the DOT could seek funds “essential to a determination as to whether or not it would be prudent to move the project forward to construction.’’

Keith Rosser, the DOT’s Director of Transportation Planning and Research told Serventi Bay Head and Mantoloking officials opposed widening the road. “The department is in the process of seeking an equitable solution in an atmosphere of environmental analysis and evaluation. These deliberations take time.’’

He said state and federal laws “precludes the department making unilateral decisions relative to the feasibility, location and design of transportation projects.’’

Saying that work was not done, he turned down a Serventi request for a meeting.

Serventi turned up the pressure. Dover officials were joined by Seaside Heights Mayor Pat Tunney , Point Pleasant Mayor Michael Valenti, and Lavallette Mayor Alan L. F. Conner in urging action by the DOT.

The Dover-Brick Beach First Aid Squad joined the cry, saying a four-lane highway in Bay Head and Mantoloking “would greatly enhance the safety and welfare of all citizens.’’

The Asbury Park Press joined the fray, opining: “It is questionable whether good sense and the need for safer ways of moving traffic can longer bow to the desire of Mantoloking and Bay Head to maintain the status quo and thus perpetuate a dangerous and perplexing bottleneck.’’

When the fires of publicity went out and the smoke cleared, Route 35 in those towns remained unchanged. Drivers who think they can use local streets running parallel to Route 35 to escape the congestion are foiled by diabolically deployed one-way signs.