Locals know that when the traffic lights along Long Beach Boulevard stop blinking, and are switched to the cycle of green-yellow-red, summer season is about to start.

Beach Haven Mayor Tom Stewart says the traffic lights are switched over one week before Memorial Day. That gives the island’s year-round residents seven days to get used to it, so they won’t be running traffic lights with the streets swollen with part-timers.

Last Friday morning the lights worked fine, as the first official wave of Shore goers began flowing in at daybreak. Stewart’s restaurant, the much-loved Uncle Will’s Pancake House, (609-492-2514) was ready for the marathon.

Uncle Will’s is an LBI tradition. It’s the place where knee high ceramic pigs are placed on chairs, next to the youngest diners. As the little ones ogle the pigs, a kind of quiet stare-down takes place. For some lucky parents, the pig-quilizer effect might even last through the meal!

Stewart, who has vacationed on LBI since his childhood, says since 9-11 the crowds are larger. He’s seen more owners and fewer renters, too. That’s driven the price of rentals up, and encouraged new upscale restaurants and hotels.

Take Daddy O, (www.daddyohotel.com) , a few miles north of the Pancake House but light years away, in beach chic.

The retro-trendy hotel and restaurant has a rooftop deck, spa-showers and luxury rooms. Not your family-style economy suites. Both hotel and gourmet restaurant are drawing rave reviews.

In fact, B&Bs catering to affluent couples are popping up on the island’s family-friendly streets.

Next week we’ll take you inside one of the newest, and most luxurious you’ll find on LBI—or for that matter, anywhere in New Jersey.

The lights are truly changing on Long Beach Island.