A groundbreaking was held Tuesday morning for a new service road in Middletown. The roadway, which is just off Route 520 in the Lincroft section of the township, is being constructed in an effort to prevent car accidents.

The Monmouth County Board of County Commissioners and Middletown officials hosted the ceremony to mark the beginning of the long-awaited construction. The current one-way road is nestled behind the popular Lincroft Plaza, just behind the Acme grocery store.

The idea was proposed by Abe Littenberg, of the Lincroft Village Green Association, nearly seven years ago.

"To get into [the plaza, cars] coming from Colts Neck heading toward the [Garden State] Parkway would make a left crossing several lanes, but worse than that would be cars leaving here,” says Littenberg.

Local officials surprised Littenberg by announcing that the road would be named after him once construction is complete.

"Abe, on behalf of the Township Committee, at our next meeting on June 16, the Township Committee will be introducing an ordinance that names this new two-way road, Littenberg Lane," said Mayor Tony Perry.

"I thought that I’d have to be a governor or mayor or senator for this to happen, but fortunately, I didn’t have to go that route because I’m not much of a politician," said Littenberg.

The existing one-way exit road out of the plaza will be widened to two-way traffic. A sidewalk will also be added to accommodate and enhance safety for nearby residents and pedestrians.

"We saw the priority here. We saw the need here," said Commissioner Director Thomas Arnone. "It was something that both the mayor, the committee and ourselves…thought was very, very important."

Local officials have also discussed proposing a reduction to the speed limit on Route 520 from Hurleys Lane to Woodland Drive.

“Based on the findings of a recent traffic engineering study, the County is also recommending lowering the speed limit between Hurleys Lane and Woodland Drive from 40 mph to 35 mph in order to make the speed limit consistent with the Lincroft Village section of the corridor,” Arnone wrote in a statement. “This speed limit reduction will be reviewed and voted upon by the entire Board of County Commissioners on June 12.”

If everything goes as planned, construction will be complete by the upcoming winter.