Summer ‘Time’ and Traffic’s Stalled

Is it just me, or is traffic worse this summer than in years past? Are traffic engineers off on holiday, as the Brits would say? Year-rounders here know there are two travel times, winter “time” and summer “time.” The first is faster. It’s what we all plan into travel schedules. Getting from Rio Grande to Cape May? In winter, 10 minutes, if the lights are in your favor, 15 minutes if luck is against you. The same trip in summer could be 20-25 minutes.
Construction on Garden State Parkway over passes, which we must remind ourselves is just a temporary inconvenience that will be history in a little over a year, had made inter-town transit almost quadruple the time. I pity those who have appointments in Stone Harbor and who leave just 10 (winter time) minutes before their due time. They will be very late. Why? That would have to be discussed with the chap who set the timers on the parkway traffic signals. He or she must have miscalculated the amount of traffic that is held back by the ignoble signals that let but a scant few cross at a time.
As weekend traffic backs up from the parkway and Stone Harbor Boulevard past Route 9, nearly to the Atlantic Cape Community College entrance, I have to wonder who is responsible for that mess? Did no one think to do a traffic study and suggest that, perhaps on weekends in summer, a somewhat altered signal configuration would be in order?
It would seem that a traffic cop especially at the Parkway intersection at Stone Harbor Boulevard would be a well-ordered job, especially on weekends, but then, state troopers are pressed far beyond their limit as it is, so who would perform such a humble, but oh, so necessary task? Perhaps for an offer of double time on a weekend, some poor soul could be coerced into directing traffic, and could do a far better job, and indeed a public service, for the motoring public. But this is New Jersey, and that’s just a pipe dream, so, dear drivers, be prepared to sit.
The public demanded traffic lights in spots along Route 47. They were put in place. Now, we sit in traffic for what seems an eternity, although it is not. It’s just one more sign of civilization.
Conversing with a friend last week about the recent summertime traffic malady afflicting so many, he told me the circuitous route he had to travel. It skirted the lines of stalled traffic in the Court House area. It went something like this: he headed south on Route 9. It appeared impossible, so he doubled back to the Parkway-Route 9 access in Swainton. That was closed, and traffic on the parkway southbound was similarly backed up.
Knowing all the back roads, he headed to Goshen-Swainton Road, thinking he could skirt the bottleneck. That road, however, was also backed up at Court House-South Dennis Road. So, he headed for Route 47 and utilized that highway to find the closest road to where he needed to go. Vacationers, however, are not as well versed in the county’s back road system, so they sit in traffic and wait, and wait, and burn precious gasoline and wait.
You get the picture. Is that any way to welcome vacationers after we’ve spent oodles of loot to lure them here for a few days of peace and time at the shore?
What is a viable alternative to all that waiting in traffic? Would vacationers shun their vehicles and take a train to the shore points if it didn’t cost more than room and meals? We fret and press our legislators about linking Route 55 to Cape May County directly, but when they get here, then what? Route 47 is the same Route 47 it’s been since before the war, a twisting, turning two-lane highway. As Sen. Jeff VanDrew likes to say, “We can do better.” What would it take to “do better?” Would it take a decline in visitors, who can’t stand to spend time in traffic to have changes made?
Perhaps every vacation spot in the land experiences similar traffic, simply because there are more people now than ever. I am sure the Poconos has lines of cars, most probably Ocean City, Md. has lines of cars. If one would head to Virginia Beach, we’re probably going to see the same thing, but we are not there, we are here. And here is where the problem needs a solution.
Maybe much of the angst will disappear when the overpass work is complete, and cars are zooming to Cape May and Wildwood at 65 mph or faster. Then, what happens when they hit “The Landing” past Exit 0 or the George Redding Bridge lifting up its span to allow boat traffic to pass? They’ll play the vacation waiting game. Maybe some will shut off their air conditioning and breathe in the salt air, but I have my doubts. Will they wonder, “Why did I ever come here in the first place?” Once they ask that of themselves, we have a very serious problem that involves our survival as a vacation destination. This kind of summer “time” is not good for anyone.