A sixth sense
By JENNIFER KELLEY
Cherry Hill Sun
4/6/2007

Erlton South residents say no to six-lane Route 70

A six-lane highway is at the center of the conceptual redesign of Cherry Hill’s most prominent thoroughfare, and most Route 70 Task Force members have mixed feelings on whether two extra highway lanes would improve the state roadway or ruin the township. But last week, residents of Erlton South made it very clear where they stood on the issue: Not though our neighborhood!

Gathered together by task-force member and Erlton South Civic Association President Phil Guerrieri above the Erlton firehouse, more than 100 of the neighborhood’s residents roundly criticized a recent proposal the task force was considering that would expand Route 70’s capacity in the Erlton, Barclay Farm and Wexford Leas areas to three lanes going east and west coupled with left-hand turning lanes. The design was commissioned by the township and pictorially presented to the task force last month.

According to the plan presented at the meeting, the widening would not be established by cutting into the properties bordering the highway; rather, the median would be narrowed, as would the shoulder and the individual lanes – shrinking from their current 12-foot expanse down to 11 feet.

Guerrieri said he organized the meeting when, after seeing the conceptual design at a task-force meeting and voicing his displeasure, other task force members questioned whether his opinion reflected the whole of the community he was chosen to represent. So he decided to present the plan to Erlton South residents and let them vote on it themselves.

Of the 302 community members who voted on the proposal, 298 voted against it and four voted that they would support it, officials said.

After a presentation on the tentative proposal, Guerrieri opened the floor to those in attendance. Many voiced disbelief that the township was considering expanding the highway, arguing that the roar and rumble of passing traffic was already deafening and disruptive.

“We need to stand up for our rights,” said Erlton resident and task force member Ramin Abbaszaddah. “We have properties along this roadway, and they’ll lose value (if a plan like this goes forward). We have a greater stake in this matter than other areas of Cherry Hill.”

Other people at the meeting expressed their concern that narrowing Route 70’s shoulders to three feet, as the design called for, would be dangerous, in addition to being destructive to area businesses.

If the shoulder is made so narrow that it can’t be used for deceleration or acceleration, “you will dry up businesses along Route 70 because no one will be able to safely get to them,” said resident Pat Murphy, who owns property along the roadway.

Barclay Farms resident Bill Kushner, who attended the meeting, said the idea of reducing 12-foot traffic lanes by a foot is fraught with problems.

“That foot makes a tremendous difference. And if the shoulder is barely three feet wide and someone has to pull over, they won’t even be able to open their car door.”

Kushner told The Sun he was in favor of a more simple solution to peak-hour congestion on the highway – retiming the lights.

“And even if that’s not the answer, the township and the DOT should try other things before they sink millions of dollars into an expansion project that might not achieve the desired result.

“Once you add a lane,” he said, “your solution to traffic congestion is stamped in concrete.”

Mayor Bernie Platt was not invited to attend the meeting, said his spokesman, Dan Keashen, but he looks forward to the completion of the task force’s final report.

Keashen noted that Platt and other township officials continue to be concerned with the effect and impact changes to Route 70 will have on specific neighborhoods, “but we also recognize neighborhood concerns need to be balanced in the context of Route 70 being a critical regional state roadway.”

But resident Roxanne Shinn, who also attended the meeting, said that expanding Route 70 would not serve the region well.

“The widening concept is designed to eventually spread development to undeveloped areas in Burlington County and toward the Shore,” she said. “It’s not going to end congestion and does not address safety issues – it’ll result in more cars, more speed and more development.”

According to Guerrieri, the task force’s final report will likely be produced by the end of the month.