By Sarah Fertsch
Staff Writer
If you live in or around Egg Harbor Township, you’ve encountered the never-ending detours around Fire Road. The intersection of Mill and Fire roads has been partially blocked off since 2017. It’s been five years with no end in sight.
Not only has Fire Road been creating problems for motorists, but Steelmanville, Zion and Delilah roads have rerouted traffic at various times throughout the past few months.
So why are we constantly sitting bumper to bumper, waiting for the road work to be completed?
It all started 10 years ago when the state of New Jersey approved a $16 billion project to expand the Garden State Parkway and NJ Turnpike.
Between interchanges 98 and 125, the parkway is being widened from five or six lanes, to six or seven lanes in each direction. Also included is the addition of two new lanes in each direction along 12 miles of the parkway between interchanges 142 and 154 at a cost of $2.5 billion.
As a result, 100 miles of roadway will be widened along with the addition of at least 454 lane miles.
Gov. Phil Murphy has ambitiously led our state toward a goal of reducing climate-harming emissions 80 percent by 2050. In November 2021, the administration announced it would work toward cutting pollution levels by 50 percent (using metrics from 2006) by 2030. Yet, despite these plans, the New Jersey Transportation Authority, through this expansion, encourages in-state residents and visitors to rely more heavily on traditional forms of travel.
The Public Interest Research Group, a national association committed to reversing climate change, says that the highway expansions directly impede Murphy’s energy conservation plan. Their report on the expansion reads, “Every dollar spent on road expansion is a dollar that could be spent on the very initiatives the Energy Master Plan describes as essential in addressing the climate and health impacts of transportation emissions, including expansion of multimodal travel options, Complete Streets initiatives and other programs conducive to connecting people to transit and getting more cars off the road, as well as much-needed investment in New Jersey Transit’s capital budget and electric bus transformation.”
The state has limited construction on the Garden State Parkway near shore points to not impede tourists from participating in the economy. As the summer has passed, expect to experience even more road closures and hard hats on well-traveled roads.
Egg Harbor Township’s website notes that the partial closure on Mill and Fire roads will remain in place for an undetermined amount of time. Surveyors and South Jersey Gas crews have been spotted on Fire Road around Bright Stars Gymnastics and Bargaintown Preschool. Without much warning, the roads close, forcing motorists to take alternative routes and risk running late for important meetings or appointments.
Rita Westbrook drops her daughter off at the Garden State Academy every morning. She and her partner live on Mill Road near the Bargaintown Fire House, so she has had to allot more time for her commute to take Zion up to Fire Road. “With all the parents dropping off their kids at the Northfield Community School and people getting to work, my commute has become very stressful,” Westbrook said. “All I want is this to end. Enough is enough.”
NJ Advantage Media concluded that the parkway construction will result in wider shoulders on the southern half of the highway, providing safer travel for beachgoers, especially during peak season. Construction is predicted to be completed in June 2024.
“The fact that locals are paying our expensive taxes to benefit tourists is unbelievable,” said Westbrook. “We are the ones who sit in traffic all day for just a wider shoulder, not even a lane. It’s just not right. Locals deserve better.”
For now, drivers should practice mindfulness and patience during their daily drives and use the extra time to call family, listen to a podcast, do some deep breathing, or belt out a song. Sometimes life is beyond your control, and all you can do is control your response. Set aside extra time in case of an unexpected road closure, and take pleasure in knowing that even though this is difficult, it is only temporary.
