Minor Arterials

A minor arterial street is intended to serve vehicle trips generated by land-uses within the City and within adjacent communities. Minor arterial streets should not serve long-distance trips, but do have community importance in terms of traffic capacity and service to abutting land-uses.

Minor arterial streets within and around Oakwood include:

• Schantz Avenue (CR-659), west of Far Hills.
• Irving Avenue (CR-660), east of Oakwood Avenue.
• Patterson Road (CR-611), east of Far Hills.
• Oakwood Avenue, north of Far Hills.
• Shroyer Road (CR-609), along the eastern boundary of Oakwood.
• Patterson Boulevard, just west of the City.

Collector Streets

A collector street is intended to serve vehicle trips generated to and from the neighborhoods it serves. Collector streets collect and distribute traffic between neighborhoods and the arterial street system. Collector streets have access to abutting properties and connect local streets to the arterial streets. Collector streets within Oakwood include:

• Schantz Avenue, between Oakwood Avenue and Patterson Road.
• Shafor Boulevard, between Irving Avenue and Dorothy Lane.
• Ridgeway Road, from its intersection with Harman Avenue to Dorothy Lane.
• Harman Avenue, between its two intersections with Far Hills.
• Peach Orchard Road, between Far Hills Avenue and Ridgeway Road.

Local Streets

All other streets within Oakwood are classified as local streets. Local streets are intended to serve only vehicle trips generated by land-uses abutting the street. The function of this type of street is local access within a neighborhood.

Traffic Circulation

Oakwood is primarily a mature, fully developed community. Municipal planning and expenditures on the City’s transportation network will continue to be focused on maintenance and improvement of the existing system, rather than constructing new facilities or providing service to newly developed areas. Improvements to the current network of pedestrian and bicycle facilities are envisioned in the near future.

Far Hills Avenue (SR-48) is the most significant through-route within Oakwood and it serves the Far Hills Business District and several major institutional facilities. In many ways, Far Hills serves as the center of the community and is Oakwood’s primary transportation corridor. Efforts to minimize congestion and to enhance operational efficiency and safety are important objectives of the community.

While traffic volumes are not expected to grow substantially in the future, short-term congestion and vehicular/pedestrian conflicts due to school activities and commercial businesses are of concern. The city school campuses are located on sites with limited capacity for off-street surface parking and vehicular loading.

Some residents have expressed a concern with non-local and commercial traffic within residential areas. Several residential streets are perceived as “cut-through” routes and require strict enforcement of the City’s traffic regulations. The possibility of potential traffic calming measures might also be explored.