Assemblywoman Amy H. Handlin and a bipartisan group of Monmouth County mayors sent a letter today to the Federal Emergency Management Agency requesting funding for solar-powered traffic signals to improve public safety and traffic flow during outages.

“This is an investment in public safety,” Handlin, R-Monmouth, said. “Solar-powered traffic lights would continue to operate in outages to keep traffic moving and allow police officers to respond to people who need help, instead of directing traffic for days and days.

“We need to replace several traffic lights after Hurricane Sandy and we might as well rebuild our infrastructure better than before, with bipartisan solutions like this,” Handlin added.

Handlin’s effort is supported by several Mayors in Monmouth County, including: David Tinker (Hazlet), Frank Nolan (Highlands), Patrick Impreveduto (Holmdel), Jon Hornik (Marlboro), Anthony Fiore (Middletown), Michael Mahon (Oceanport), Paul Smith (Union Beach). The Assemblywoman continues to gather support for the initiative. A copy of the letter is attached: http://www.njassemblyrepublicans.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Handlin-letter-to-FEMA.pdf

“When emergencies strike, our communities cannot afford to place police officers at every intersection when they are needed elsewhere,” Handlin said. “Funding solar-powered traffic signals should be a priority for FEMA to reduce the significant and repetitive loss our communities have experienced after devastating storms.”

New Jersey’s first solar-powered traffic light was turned on in May 2011 in Mantua Township, Gloucester County.

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