Brick Residents Still Finding Parkway Work Bothersome

BRICK - Residents of the Evergreen Woods townhouses said the noise and poor air quality associated with the work that is being done by the Garden State Parkway is making life unbearable.

Residents attended the Brick Township Council Meeting requesting that they get the New Jersey Turnpike Authority to hear their demands to restore some o the trees that were removed as part of the Garden State Parkway's expansion by interchange 91 to improve local traffic flow and expand the shoulder.

Steve Brill, a resident of Evergreen Woods, told the Township Council that they should not pass an ordinance to grand a block of property to complete the interchange until the resident's demands were met.  The ordinance failed to pass with a 2-2 vote with Domenick Brando and Dan Toth supporting granting the land and Council President Bob Moore and Council Vice President Susan Lydecker opposing the ordinance.  The ordinance will need to be reintroduced next year, since it was not approved during the second reading.

 Mayor-elect John Ducey and councilmen James Fozman, and Joseph Sangiovanni were not present for the vote. A motion to table the ordinance to the Dec. 3 meeting also failed.

Brando said the Turnpike Authority "will step in and do what is right" to improve the landscape and mitigate noise.  Officials said they have reached out to the authority about concerns and did not hear from them. However, Brando and Toth cautioned that delays could cost the authority money and expose the township to litigation if the land is not provided to complete the interchange improvements.

Also, the expansion of the interchange could reduce traffic by 30-35 percent, Brando said. 

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority said on its Website that the project to complete a full shoulder between mile markers 83 and 100 will be done 2014 and hearings were held on the improvements last year.  Regarding the work at interchange 91, the Turnpike Authority and Ocean County will collaborate on providing ramp movements currently missing at the interchange, reconstruction and safety improvements to the existing northbound ramp toll plaza, construction of two extended services roads, and improvements to nearby county roads to simplify the traffic flow pattern and relieve congestion. Construction is expected to be completed in 2015.