Route 47 Closure Explained

COURT HOUSE – Officials from the state Department of Transportation (DOT) made a presentation at the Jan. 22 Middle Township Committee meeting. The message was clear: Route 47, one of the municipality’s main arteries, had to close for an extended period for emergency repairs. 
Other options were considered and rejected. Schedules call for the road to be closed through June.
Vanessa Meades, a DOT official, said two pipes allowing Dias Creek to flow under the roadway separated. The resulting water eroded the ground supporting the culvert, and made the road unstable. 
For several months, DOT wrestled with potential sinkholes, but short-term repairs only bought time for planning a more permanent fix to the problem. Armed with pictures of new sinkholes forming on the roadway, Meades detailed alternatives the agency considered before declaring a total closure.
Explaining that the compromised road would not support alternating one-way traffic, or the use of steel plates, in lieu of road surface, Meades apologized for the difficulties the closure would cause, but remained firm that closing the road was the only viable option.
Mayor Timothy Donohue expressed concern that closure of the road would have a negative impact on the area’s economy. Donohue also warned that any extension of the project into July would have a ripple effect on the county’s tourism season, the period when most county businesses earn the majority of their annual revenue.
DOT officials brushed aside concerns that the project could run over schedule. “That will not happen under any circumstances,” one said, noting that the department wants to “under-promise and over-deliver.”
Members of the public expressed support for the project, recognizing that the “job needs to be done.”
Local radio host, Joe Griffies, chided DOT for years of inactivity extending Route 55. “If we had Route 55 now, this wouldn’t be a problem,” he said.
Others expressed concern over heavy truck traffic being detoured onto roads less accommodating to the weight and the turning radius of such trucks.
Meades said DOT would monitor truck traffic during the closure, and decide if an alternative truck-only detour would be imposed.
Chief of Police Christopher Leusner promised increased patrols in the detour areas, asking the public to report problems they experience or witness.
For Donohue, the most important task is peeling off traffic before it arrives at the detours. Key to this objective, he said, is signage well to the north of the roadwork, urging traffic to use alternative routes, like Route 83 to Route 9, and eventually the Parkway, for those continuing south.
No Easy Answers
There are no good options. Drivers will be inconvenienced, and local businesses will be hurt. 
A county evacuation route will be compromised for a period of months. It is a price that must be paid in a county with few north-south traffic arteries, and an economy that depends on the flow of hundreds of thousands of vehicles a year.
The official detour, included in a DOT press release, calls for off-loading southbound traffic onto Hand Avenue to Route 9 south, then on Route 9 to Indian Trail Road, and west to Route 47.
Traffic moving north on Route 47 will be detoured at Indian Trail Road to Route 9, north to Hand Avenue, and west to Route 47.
Although that is the official detour, at this time, the road south remains open to Springers Mill Road. Motorists are encouraged to check DOT’s traffic information website at www.511nj.org for up-to-date information.
Route 47 is a 75-mile state highway, running from Wildwood to U.S. 130 in Brooklawn, Camden County, designated Delsea Drive by the Legislature in 1933, as the road that ran from the Delaware River to the Atlantic Ocean.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.