Southbound Overpasses May Be Ready in October

CREST HAVEN – Southbound traffic on Garden State Parkway may switch onto three new overpasses “sometime in October,” according to county Engineer Dale Foster. That would be a month earlier than previously expected. “They are ready to seed on the new southbound exit ramp and are working on permanent traffic signals,” he added.
Foster told freeholders in his Aug. 26 report about progress on overpasses that will eliminate parkway traffic signals at exits 9, 10 and 11. When that changeover takes effect, southbound exit and entrance ramps will be opened, he said. That will mean a traffic signal at Stone Harbor Boulevard, west of the southbound lane. It will also mean a new way of accessing East Mechanic Street, Court House via an access road between the southbound lane and Hy-Land Motor Inn.
That road will also be the entrance for southbound parkway traffic from East Mechanic Street.
“We had a rather lengthy meeting going over traffic signals,” Foster said. That session focused on permanent and temporary traffic signals. “It will work,” he emphasized.
“I must have sat there 15 minutes,” said Freeholder Director Gerald Thornton. “One light was not talking to anybody.” He spoke of extremely long red lights at Crest Haven Road. At some point, lights are red in all directions as traffic backs up awaiting signal change.
When southbound overpasses are handling traffic work will begin on the northbound overpasses.
Always ready for a celebration, Freeholder Will Morey said, “There should be some ceremony when they (overpasses) open. Lenny (Desiderio, vice director) in a Speedo running over it. Diane (Wieland, director of tourism and information) work your magic.”
“You could do a fundraiser for the first hundred cars,” Morey added.
“Don’t talk about fund raisers in a public meeting,” Thornton urged. “You could put it against taxation,” Morey replied.
“At this point there is no plan for a special event,” Foster said. “Well, fix it,” Morey joked.
“Everyone walked over the Ninth Street Bridge (Ocean City) when it opened,” offered Clerk of the Board Elizabeth Bozzelli. Such a pedestrian event worked in Ocean City, but not on the parkway.
“You could drive the county Ferrari over it,” laughed Morey.
Once all traffic signals are permanent, at project’s end, they will become the county’s responsibility to maintain, Foster noted.
On a serious note, Freeholder Kristine Gabor asked Foster about future plans to eliminate traffic signal at Exit 0 at the southern end of the parkway.
Foster said the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, which operates Garden State Parkway, has a project planned, but he was unaware if plans were be ready to “get out to bid by fall.”
In his office is a design of the $8-million project. He vowed to bring that to the Sept. 9 meeting for the board to view. “There are no overpasses. Jughandles will handle the traffic,” said Foster.
Traffic from Route 109 will no longer go to a U-turn to head north. Instead, it will go to the end of the parkway, through a jughandle then through a traffic signal heading north. Northbound traffic will have a separate merge lane, Foster said.
“The (Exit 0) project doesn’t eliminate the light, it eliminates all U-turns,” Foster added.
“It will eliminate the high-speed crossover. That’s a big deal,” said Morey.