CREST HAVEN – Former state Sen. James Cafiero had a pet saying, “Everybody wants to get to heaven, but nobody wants to die to get there.” Motorists may get that same sense this spring and summer.
Route 9 will be repaved from Ferry Road in Lower Township to Dennis Township, under a state Department of Transportation project. That’s the reason there has been much pre-paving utility construction work in the Court House area that left the road surface with bumps and channels of varying degrees.
The paving project is to be done at night, thus minimizing motorists’ angst, but some delays and inconveniences are bound to occur.
County Engineer Dale Foster updated freeholders at the Feb. 24 caucus meeting about that project, as well as ramp construction on the Garden State Parkway in connection with the three overpasses at Shell Bay Avenue, Stone Harbor Boulevard and Crest Haven Road.
He said during project meetings he has attended there had been much discussion about where to detour traffic as the work progresses. He said that of the three intersections, Stone Harbor Boulevard was deemed “a very difficult one to do” in order to maintain exiting parkway traffic onto Stone Harbor Boulevard. Exactly how Crest Haven Road’s northbound ramp will be done is also another point of discussion.
Also a concern, when would be the best time to schedule the work? If during the school year, school bus traffic becomes a factor. If the work is done in the summer, greater amounts of traffic will be involved because of the tourist season.
Regardless, Foster said the project is on scheduled and is to be completed by year’s end. “They have a lot to get done,” he added.
Weather halted work the week of Feb. 16, he said. It was too windy and too cold. For that reason, the placement of girders on Shell Bay Avenue’s northbound overpass was stalled.
When weather warms, concrete decking will be poured on those overpasses. Then comes the asphalt.
“Woodbine is going to be awfully warm,” quipped Foster. “There is around 44,000 tons of asphalt” made in a plant there. The same contractor has the parkway paving job and the Route 9 paving project, he said.
Foster said “We tried to get DOT (Department of Transportation) to postpone the (Route 9) project in the spring until 2016, but they would not entertain our request.”
Cape May – Governor Murphy says he doesn't know anything about the drones and doesn't know what they are doing but he does know that they are not dangerous. Does anyone feel better now?
