The crosswalk markings at Wyckoff Avenue and Spring Meadow Drive have been painted for weeks. But the crossing is not open, and Wyckoff's mayor is asking residents to stay off it.

"It's still closed and it's very hazardous," Mayor Roger Lane told Janet Toomey, the Spring Meadow Association's representative, at the Township Committee meeting on June 9, after she returned to the podium to thank the township for the project. "Please make sure that the residents do not use that until it's properly taken care of." Toomey, who had spent two years pushing for the crossing, told Lane her association had already alerted residents to keep away.[1]

What's missing is the part that makes the crossing safe. The project includes two rectangular rapid flashing beacon units — pedestrian-activated lights that pulse to alert drivers when someone is crossing.[2] Until those beacons and the rest of the final work are installed, the lines on the pavement are a suggestion, not a signal.

The township's own June 11 e-newsletter confirmed the closure. A graphic in the newsletter — headlined "CROSSWALK CLOSED AT WYCKOFF AVE & SPRING MEADOW DRIVE" — said the township is "awaiting installation of a pedestrian activated crossing beacon and advance warning signs" and asked residents to "use caution and stay tuned for updates." No opening date was given.[3]

The crossing was paid for entirely by a state grant — not by Wyckoff taxpayers. Township Administrator Matt Cavallo went looking for outside funding and found a state program worth nearly $70,000, enough to cover the full project. Without it, Toomey told the committee, "we would have to do it with a lot of our own money here in Wyckoff."[4]

Toomey described Cavallo's search:

"Mr. Cavallo went to the state of New Jersey to look and see if there was some grant that he could find to pay for this... he found this wonderful grant from the state that dealt with safety, it dealt with commerce, meaning going across the street, it dealt with automobile safety."[4]

The grant funded the full scope of the project: the flashing beacon systems, new curb and sidewalk reconstruction, ADA-compliant curb ramps, and a retaining wall. Bids were received in October 2025; project plans and specifications were prepared by Boswell Inc. of South Hackensack.[2]

Construction moved in stages. The township handled the ADA ramp work beginning March 30; the county handled paving along the Wyckoff Avenue corridor as part of its Wyckoff Avenue and Godwin Avenue repaving program.[6] By the May 19 Township Committee meeting, the new crosswalk had been painted, and the township was awaiting installation of the pedestrian-activated lighted signs as part of the Lawlins Road project.[7] As of June 9, the structural installation was complete; the beacons and final work remained.

Spring Meadow is a 112-home senior residential community off Wyckoff Avenue. Crossing the arterial road safely was a longstanding concern — and the reason Toomey came back to the public comment podium across two years, including in April, when she thanked the committee while work was still in progress.[5]

"Thank you so much to Matt Cavallo and the rest of the township committee for listening to me about this problem," she said on June 9. "I can't believe I'm here after two years thanking them all again."[1]