Essex County Commissioners Approve Slower Speed Limit for Upper Mountain Avenue in Montclair

Commissioner Brendan Gill Spearheads Advocacy for Traffic Calming Measures

 MONTCLAIR, NJ (February 20, 2024)—The Essex County Board of Commissioners has adopted a resolution to allow the Township of Montclair to limit driving speeds on portions of Upper Mountain Avenue to 25 miles per hour.

The amended speed limit will impact a 300-foot section of Upper Mountain Avenue from Jerome Place to the Little Falls town line. The speed limit change was the result of a review of vehicle speeds and crash histories by Montclair’s municipal engineer, which determined that criteria were met to impose the 25 MPH speed limit.

The resolution consenting to Montclair’s amended traffic ordinance was recommended by Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill, a lifelong Montclair resident who has collaborated with citizen efforts in Montclair to improve traffic and pedestrian safety and address hazardous driving speeds. As Upper Mountain Avenue (County Route 620) is a county-owned road, Montclair needed the County’s approval to enact an ordinance amending the speed limit.

“Driving speeds, and their impact on traffic and pedestrian safety, has been and remains a major concern in Montclair, and I am grateful to my colleagues on the Board for supporting Montclair’s efforts to remediate this situation,” said Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill. “This change in speed limit is an important first step toward improving safety for drivers and pedestrians on a stretch of Upper Mountain Avenue that is a known hot zone,” Gill said.

As an Essex County Commissioner-at-Large, Brendan Gill represents all 22 municipalities of Essex County on the Essex County Board of Commissioners. A long-time advocate for pedestrian, traffic and street safety, Commissioner Gill serves on the New Jersey Bike Walk Coalition and Montclair’s Vision Zero Task Force. For more information, or to contact Commissioner Gill:

https://ecfnj.com/

bgill@commissioners.essexcountynj.org

https://www.facebook.com/commissionerbrendangill/