In the Press...
Star Ledger Article on Smith Announcement$12 million in fed funds will widen Route 66
BY MARYANN SPOTTO, STAR LEDGER STAFF WRITER - For those motorists who have to endure the traffic jams on Route 66 through Neptune Township, help is on the horizon.
The state is getting $12 million in federal funding to widen a section of the road that has remained one lane in each direction despite rapid development in the area over the past decade, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-4th Dist.) announced on Tuesday. The 1.2-mile section of the highway slated for widening runs east of the Garden State Parkway from Jumping Brook Road to Browne Road/Wayside Road, just west of Route 18 in Monmouth County. 
Smith, whose district now includes Neptune Township, said plans had been on the books for a widening project over the past three decades but the project was never funded and the work never got done.
He said then-mayor Michael Brantley approached him last summer about the need for the widening project. The area is plagued by daily bumper-to-bumper traffic jams which are worsened during the summer months," Smith said. He said studies show the crash rate on Route 66 is three times the state average for its type of road. The highway is an important public safety corridor because it serves as a coastal evacuation route and provides access to and from the Garden State Parkway, he said. Included in the plan are new traffic signals, crosswalks, curb ramps, sidewalks, improved access to retail businesses and storm water retention. A new jughandle is proposed at the intersection of Route 66 and Wayside Road. Planners expect to hold a public meeting in Neptune in November to provide additional information on the proposed project. The engineering phase will begin and is scheduled to run through 2018. Construction is estimated to take place in 2019. "For over a decade, the Neptune Township committee had been working aggressively with the state and county agencies to try to alleviate the backups and bottlenecks on Route 66," said Brantley, who is now a township committeeman. "If we get this done, it would improve travel for a lot of motorists in this part of the county." |