Crest Haven Road Closed ‘Til July 13 Between GSP, Route 9

SWAINTON — Crest Haven Road (County Road No. 609) will be closed between US Route 9 and the Garden State Parkway until approximately July 13 for the installation of pipes and conduits under the Parkway.
According to a release, “Due to the planned Parkway overpass construction, the pipes and conduits can only be installed within the alignment of Crest Haven Road. All work activity associated with the project must occur outside the right-of-way for the Parkway. Therefore the launching pits for the pipes and conduits on the west side of the Parkway will be located just west of the driveway for the Cape May County Chamber of Commerce.
For the eastside of the Parkway the launching pit will be located in the right westbound lane of Crest Haven Road just west of Moore Road.
The jacking of pipes under the Parkway is the second phase of a multi-phase wastewater re-use project being undertaken by the Cape May County Board of Chosen Freeholders and Cape May County Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA). In 2006, the MUA was awarded a grant from NJ Department of Environmental Protection for a wastewater re-use project involving the Crest Haven Complex treatment plant.
The County is responsible for the installation of the pipes needed for the re-use project and the MUA has addressed the treatment of the wastewater.
The re-use project is to divert for irrigation purposes at various facilities some of the wastewater being discharged into the ocean. The total length of the wastewater re-use pipe from the treatment plant to Goshen Road Sport Complex is approximately three miles. In addition to irrigating the fields at the County Park/Zoo and Goshen Road Sport Complex, lines will be installed to the Veterans Cemetery and Cape May County Technical High School athletic fields.
The second phase construction contract in the amount of $1,066,870 was awarded on February 24, 2009 by the Cape May County Board of Chosen Freeholders. This phase of work involves directional drilling of the pipes and conduits under the Parkway, East Pond in the County Park, US Route 9, the railroad tracks behind Atlantic Cape Community College and without disturbing an environmentally sensitive area between the College and the Goshen Sports Complex. To date, pipes have been drilled under the East Pond and US Route 9.
Additionally, the County is having communication conduits and other pipes installed under this contract. The conduits will allow the County Park/Zoo and other facilities to be connected to the County Administration Building by a fiber optic line.
In order to cross under the Parkway, the contractor has to install jacking pits to accept the pipes on either side of the Parkway. The pipes are being assembled in the Crest Haven Complex on the east side of the Parkway and will be pulled under the roadway. To facilitate the installation of the pipe, Moore Road and a portion of Crest Haven Road will be closed periodically for brief periods of time.”