DEL HAVEN — The Beatles sang of the “Long and Winding Road,” and some of our county residents spend part of their day making a long trek to work on Routes 47, 55 and the Atlantic City Expressway.
Would you consider driving from Cape May County to work in Philadelphia, Camden County or Wilmington, Del. each day?
Who would drive that far? County residents who want a higher paying job but want to keep the benefits of living at the shore make such a commute.
We are keeping the last names of our interviewees confidential since we don’t wish to provide a listing of homes that stand empty during the day.
Vanessa drives five days a week from Ocean View to Conshohocken, Pa. where she works as a political consultant. She leaves her home at 7 a.m. and if she is lucky, she arrives at 9 a.m. She said, lately, her work schedule has become more flexible and she can sometimes leave her home for the commute a late as 8 a.m., avoid the traffic and arrive at work by 9:30 a.m.
“For my sanity, it seems to work out better,” said Vanessa.
The ride home can take longer. Construction in New Jersey toward the Walt Whitman and Ben Franklin bridges is slowing traffic down near Route 55, she said.
She said she arrives home at night between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Vanessa said she lived closer to her job for a few years and then met her husband.
“My whole family lives here and I decided it would be better if I just did the commute,” said. “It’s a sacrifice.”
She said she makes more money in Pennsylvania than she could in Cape May County.
“That’s the problem with Cape May County, you can’t make, in my opinion, a middle class wage here,” said. “It’s either your scraping by or maybe your one of the lucky few that makes a lot of money….”
About every three years, her car accumulates 80,000 miles on the odometer from the long commute, so Vanessa trades it in for a new vehicle. Drivers who make long commutes cannot lease a vehicle due to mileage penalties.
To entertain herself on the long ride, Vanessa said she listen to Howard Stern on satellite radio, some country music and KYW Radio 1060 for traffic reports once she reaches the Philadelphia region.
Snowstorms can be a problem, both in not being able to drive to Conshohocken and not being able to get home to Cape May County. She said her car broke down in the pouring rain on the ride home.
Vanessa said she was stranded for four hours on the Schuylkill Expressway after heavy rain washed out a portion of the road.
“I have the best of both worlds,” she said. “I can go up to the city, I have lot of friends in the city, have a cultural life, go to shows and out to dinner in a big city and then I can come back down here and have the beach.”
Taking the casino train from Atlantic City or Absecon is not an option, said Vanessa, because it takes too long to get to Philadelphia. She said a proposed rail line from Vineland to Center City Philadelphia “would make a lot of sense.”
Gail lives in Eldora and commutes weekdays to Camden County where she drives a school bus for the Gloucester Township Board of Education. She said she and her husband lived in Camden County for 19 years and moved to Cape May County 12 years.
Gail will retire here next year.
“I love my job and I couldn’t give up what we have,” she said, noting health insurance is part of her compensation something she could not duplicate in Cape May County.
She arises at 4:30 a.m. and is on the road by 5:30 a.m. arriving at work at 6:30 a.m. Gail uses Route 55 which she said is quiet during the early morning hours. The evening commute in the summer is no pleasure cruise especially Fridays.
“Coming down 47, it’s horrible once you get off 55,” said Gail.
The latest she arrives home is 6:30 p.m. She drives a Toyota with over 250,000 miles on the odometer and doesn’t plan to buy a new car until her retirement.
Gail said she has not considered moving back to Camden County.
“I like it down here a lot,” she said. “We used to camp down here. We liked it so much we never wanted to go home and that’s why we bought down here.”
To pass the time, Gail said she listens to oldies on WIBG Radio until it fades out and she switches to oldies on WOGL 98.1 FM from Philadelphia.
Andrew commutes from Court House to Bridgeport weekdays. He said he works as a supervisor in the environmental business.
His commute takes about one hour and 20 minutes using Route 47 to Route 55 to 538 to 322 to his shop. He leaves his home here at 4:15 a.m. and arrives home at night about 4:30 p.m.
Andrew drives a company vehicle so the mileage is not a consideration. His Friday night commute from May to the end of September can be very slow, he said. For entertainment, Andrew said he listens to talk radio, WPHT AM 1210, Philadelphia.
“Cape May County’s my home,” he said. “I’ve been down here for close to 20 years.”
Amanda commutes from Del Haven to Wilmington, Del. using Route 47 to 55 to 40 to the Delaware Memorial Bridge for a total driving time of one hour and 40 minutes. She leaves her home at 6:30 a.m. in the morning and arrives home in the evening between 7 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
To pass the time of the commute, Amanda uses her hands-free cell phone to talk to friends and listens to WAYV 95.1 until it fades out in Elmer and then switches to a country station from Philadelphia. Her only morning traffic problems are related to road construction or lanes closed on the bridge.
Amanda said her 2009 Volkswagen Jetta just passed 103,000 miles on the odometer. She grew up in Cape May County, graduated from Lower Cape May Regional High School, went to Lafayette College in Easton, Pa. and moved to Washington D.C. for eight years. Amanda said she missed her family in Cape May County and the drive from Washington D.C. was slow.
She moved back to Cape May County and decided to make the commute to Wilmington. Amanda works in financial services, which were effected by the 2008 financial collapse.
“There’s things about this county and the Cape May area I really enjoy,” she said.
Amanda said she likes the fact that “people know each other” here.
“In (Washington) D.C., I used to joke when you met somebody it was almost like you had to rattle off your resume to them,” she said.
Amanda said she would take a job for less pay if it could get her out of the commute. She said she suspects her current salary may scare away potential employers in Cape May County.
She has had a few days when snow prevented her from making her commute but she has the option of working online from home when absolutely necessary.
Amanda said there is a certain danger in making a long commute. She said the hood of her car has a dent from something that fell on her car “from the sky,” last spring.
Bobbi commutes weekdays from Rio Grande to Camden County College in Blackwood, using the Atlantic City Expressway. She works as a secretary, her husband is a professor at the college.
When her husband drives, the trip takes about one hour and 15 minutes and when Bobbi drives, it takes about an hour. She said they leave their house at 7 a.m. and arrive home about 6 p.m.
Bobbi said they don’t battle Friday night shore traffic since the college is closed on Fridays.
“We do find that Thursday is the new Friday,” she said, concerning tourist traffic headed for shore points, which adds 30 minutes to the drive.
Bobbi was born and raised in Haddonfield, which is 20 minutes from the college. They have commuted for four and half years.
“This is our swan song, we’ll both be retiring this summer,” said Bobbi. “We absolutely love Cape May County.”
She said she and her husband were both “Shoobies,” with their parents owning summer homes in Wildwood Crest.
“People are jealous of me in the summertime,” said Bobbi. “I say, ‘Well, I could go home and my feet can be in the sand in about an hour.’”
