CREST HAVEN — Another public gathering was held Thur., Aug. 18 concerning the Garden State Parkway’s proposed triple overpass project in Middle Township. They were told that the project might commence late in 2012, but only if wetland mitigation issues are resolved.
Although the session stretched from 4:30 p.m. to 7, what the public learned from Dennis Conklin of The Louis Berger Group had been unveiled hours earlier by Sen. Jeff Van Drew as he addressed the Cape May County Chamber of Commerce at Wildwood Golf Club.
Both conveyed a similar message: The project stalled by wetlands mitigation. The parkway project would disturb about 1.5 acres of wetlands. In order for that to happen, mitigation must take place, which means creating wetlands somewhere else. A similar situation took place about a decade ago at the southern end of the Parkway. There, a tract of farmland was excavated and wetlands were created as part of the North Wildwood Boulevard construction.
Van Drew noted that, had the project not accepted federal transportation funding, about $20 million, the project might have started faster. However, since the $20 million was accepted as part of the $100-million project, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and state Department of Environmental Protection are at a stalemate over construction.
County Prosecutor Robert Taylor expressed concerns about the need for haste, since the overpasses could help speed evacuation of summer crowds, should a hurricane loom up the coast.
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