One of my joys is meeting with a group of people from all around Cape May County every month to look at various aspects of life here; we call our group Cape Issues. Just coming off the 4th of July weekend with snarled traffic everywhere, made traffic an oversized part of this month’s discussion.
Bob Grace, of Dennisville, said that he now finds himself glued to his house on weekends. He used to be able to slide out on back roads the tourists did not know existed, but with the advent of the GPS, everybody now finds those alternate routes. What is worse, it is not just weekends now, he said, it has expanded to include Mondays.
Kate Wyatt added that in Cape May one dares not move his car or he would never find a place to park close to home. Jan Iannucci shared that Court House traffic was so stalled that she and her husband preferred to go on a forced diet than brave a trip to Shop Rite. Those who had to get out said you could cut the tension of the drivers with a knife. Since our county is a peninsula, the further north in the county, the worse the problem.
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…when do we say, we don’t care
what the problems are, we want solutions.
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However, we get together to discuss solutions to our county’s problems, not just to lament them. This traffic is of course a problem for us, but since we live here, we have no choice. But what about the extra half million who don’t live here year-round who voluntarily subject themselves to this ordeal? There are other beach destinations. The route of the problem is the inability of the roads in and out of our county to handle the huge number of vehicles, backing up traffic both inside and outside of the county.
Tom Henry recalled when large numbers of visitors used to come from Washington, D.C. to his home town of Sea Isle City. Now they drive that great new road in Delaware, the Route 1 Coastal Highway. The problem is, it doesn’t lead to Sea Isle City, but to Delaware beaches. Which would you rather travel? – a new four-lane highway or Route 47/347?
Bob Grace is in discussions with Sen. Van Drew to break through the logjam and get Route 55 completed. The powers that be tell the senator it can’t be done, and besides that, it is not even on the 20-year plan. Tom Henry points out that the Mullica Hill bypass dropped into place out of nowhere – to say, the powers that be can get anything done they want to get done; the thing is, they don’t want to do it, and our representatives seem powerless against them.
In the meantime someone around the table asked, “Where are the police overriding the traffic lights and moving the cars?” Until this nightmare is addressed, we could at least move traffic the old-fashioned way!
We at the Herald deal with lots of businesses from one end of the county to the other, and these last few years we see how they are hurting. Government can raise taxes to cover their needs but private citizens can’t raise prices without driving away customers – so they suffer in silence. Why are the shops not moving their goods? When was the last time you needed a reservation at a restaurant? Why are jobs so scarce? Why is Cape May County population dropping? Why are things such that the waitress volunteers to me that she works two jobs six days a week and her family can’t make ends meet?
These are the questions we ponder, and at some point we have to tell the powers that be that we don’t care what the problems are, we want solutions.
From the Bible: The upright will inhabit the land, and those with integrity will remain in it. Proverbs 2:21
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