Atlantic City Weekly

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Hard economic times force adaptability and creativity. And sometimes, long-range plans have to change to face a new reality.

Like turning Pacific and Atlantic avenues in Atlantic City into one-way streets. Under the current reality, the plan is off again and transportation officials will focus on improving traffic signals and traffic flow on the two busy corridors.

That was one of several points discussed by transportation officials at a special forum on transportation held by The Greater Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce Thursday morning, July 15.

“Plans in this economic climate have to be flexible,” said Jack Lettiere, a former commissioner of the state Department of Transportation and now a traffic consultant working with city officials. “We had everything mapped out, but then something happened. The economy crashed, competition in other areas sprung up and the climate changed. We have to be able to adapt.”

As for the one-way plan on Pacific and Atlantic — the resort town's two main thoroughfares — officials now feel that signal improvements will be more productive.

“Right now we can achieve a lot just by modernizing the signals with fiber optics and updating the pedestrian crossings.” Lettiere said. “Virtually all of the information we have gathered in studying the one-way proposal will be useful here. And, if the time comes, we can easily transition to one-way streets.”

Lettiere said meetings are being held with Atlantic City and state officials to create a plan and that the city has already made many improvements.

Part of the plan, he said, could involve a traffic control center.

“If you have control of the system, and say a show lets out at Boardwalk Hall,” he said after the forum. “Then that center could see what was happening and extend greens lights where needed to keep traffic flowing.”

Lettiere acknowledged that the issue of whether to change traffic patterns on Pacific and Atlantic has been discussed for decades, or at least since casino gaming came to the resort.

But transportation officials stressed throughout the forum that a tough economy forces adaptability and creativity.

And one part of the region’s transportation system, The Atlantic City International Airport in Galloway Township, offers the most promise.

“I have said repeatedly that the airport here is a hidden gem,” said James S. Simpson, Commissioner of the DOT, who was the keynote speaker at the event Thursday. “You simply can’t build another airport like it in today’s world. It has more land than Newark, Kennedy and LaGuardia combined and one of the longest runways in the country. Nobody else has that.”

But Simpson noted that environmental restrictions at the airport are a concern.

“We have to expand responsibly and environmentally friendly, but we have to expand,” he said.

Simpson noted that major freight carriers such as FedEx and UPS are currently building facilities at busy Philadelphia International Airport. At Atlantic City International, the carriers would face much less air traffic to delay their flights and could bring non-casino jobs to the region.

Officials also said they are continuing to try an expand service to the airport.

Despite concerns about the economy, the forum also clearly showed that a number of transportation projects are still a go in Atlantic City, despite tight finances.

Among them are: