Holiday traffic

Back in the “old days” holiday traffic tied up Route l7M in Monroe only on Christmas Eve. Shoppers had their choice of two department stores, K-Mart and Jamesway, of course , the granddaddy, W. T. Grant’s. Lake Street was your typical village shopping center. How times have changed. Now, we have local police agencies lined up along Route 32 to help with traffic in and out of Woodbury Common. Buses loaded with shoppers had started leaving from the city’s Port Authority at 11 p.m. Thanksgiving night. Destination, Woodbury Common. The stores were so jammed, employees were stationed at the door only allowing shoppers to come in as others came out. And, going wasn’t a picnic. Some drivers said it took up to an hour and a half to get out of the mall. State Police in Monroe said, however, there were ‘no major problems.