Greenwood Lake Turnpike paving traffic woes ease

The Greenwood Lake Turnpike was free of traffic during Tuesday morning’s rush hour, which was in stark contrast to last week.

Road construction and paving on Greenwood Lake Turnpike and Glenwild Avenue began last Monday, to the apparent surprise of many drivers.

The milling and resurfacing work, which had been announced on the West Milford Police Department’s Facebook page about a week before work was to begin, caused major traffic delays last week.

The police department reported in a Nixle alert that it was flooded with phone calls on Aug. 1, issuing a statement asking drivers not to call the station about the traffic delays.

“Please do not tie up our phone lines to complain about the traffic,” police said in the statement. “Since this is a county road, complaints/inquiries can be phoned to the Passaic County Road Department at (973) 881-4500.”

Police instructed drivers to use the Waze GPS app to assist in avoiding the area.

Mayor Michele Dale also issued a statement regarding the traffic delays.

“It is my understanding in communicating with the County Administrator and the Engineer on the project that there were radio communication issues between the County Police and the WM Police Department,” Dale’s statement on Facebook said.

Mayor Dale informed residents that the West Milford Police Department would be monitoring the traffic to ensure minimal delays and that the work would begin at 8 a.m. rather than the normal 7 a.m. start time to further reduce traffic.

“While I understand that knowing this information does not alleviate the frustration of this morning’s commute, I do believe after working together today, our residents will not experience the level (of) delays that happened today,” said Dale.

The road construction project is expected to last until Aug. 9.