Lakewood Mary's Lane

So Chaveirm made it to the APP......Nice! APP: LAKEWOOD — Mary's Lane is a problem. Wait — never heard of Mary's Lane? It's a strip of blacktop between Princeton and Park avenues that juts out of Fourth Street just east of the Lakewood Community Center. The road — actually, it's a paved right of way — is sandwiched between the railroad tracks and a series of street ends. The popular pathway is home to Foodex Supermarket....Drivers turning right from Fourth Street onto Mary's Lane have smacked into the railroad tracks — or, worse, climbed them only to get stuck like an inert caboose — in seemingly increasing numbers, said Township Committeeman Menashe Miller. The problem is particularly bad at night, when drivers can't see where the blacktop ends and the tracks begin. "It's a terrible situation," said Joseph Newhouse, a member of Chaveirim Volunteer Services, an AAA-like organization in Lakewood that responds to many of the accidents in which cars get stuck and damaged. "There are weeks we've done five or six a week." Township leaders have publicly considered suing Conrail to get the rail company to put up curbing or signs. But a Conrail spokesman said late Friday the line is owned by NJ Transit. An NJ Transit spokesman said they don't own the line, either. Exactly who does own the rail line couldn't be determined Friday night. Regardless, township attorney Steven Secare has suggested condemning the street. "(The right-of-way's owner) might not even object to that," Secare said. "They might, but at least we'd have some response, some decision to make. Right now, everything's in limbo." Mayor Meir Lichtenstein has pushed to sue the property owner, whomever that may be, but Committeeman Robert W. Singer suggested first meeting with Conrail and NJ Transit officials. He said Friday he will schedule that meeting as soon as possible. If the township starts a legal battle, the property owner could ban the town from using the street — and could even close off access to the railroad crossing at Fourth Street, Singer said. "It starts out, "Let's go get 'em,' " Singer said. "Then, wait a minute, it's, "We can't use the street.' " On the bright side, the snow that fell last weekend made Mary's Lane a paper tiger this week. Drivers couldn't take the turn too fast — or too tight — because sullied piles of snow had been plowed off Fourth Street. Today, the road is clear and open for trouble. Drivers making a right from Fourth Street to Mary's Lane can take the turn too aggressively — in a hurry to get to the grocery store or wherever they're going — and not notice where the pavement drops off. "At night, it's very dark over here," Miller said. "There's nothing letting (drivers) know where to stop." Well, there's one thing — faded white line practically invisible at night. Miller wants reflective light, curbing, a sign — anything that would tell drivers to make a wider turn to avoid the pitfalls near the tracks.