Heart’ of town
By JENNIFER KELLEY
Cherry Hill Sun
4/6/2007

Task force discussing options for Route 70 to appease businesses and residents alike

The mission of the Route 70 Task Force is drawing to a close, and members say that two months of discussions, debates and conceptual presentations have resulted in myriad ideas for the problematic roadway.

Within weeks, the 14-member group, personally appointed by Mayor Bernie Platt, will submit a report that encapsulates its recommendations for improving the safety, aesthetics, traffic flow, access and walkability of the roadway. Platt will then present the recommendations to the state’s Department of Transportation for its consideration.

“As a task force, we’ve tried to stay focused on what’s good for the entire township, not just certain areas,” said Gaytana Pino, a member of the group. Pino also sits on the township’s Zoning Board and Arts Advisory Council.

“In the end, we’re working to improve Cherry Hill – and Route 70 is at the heart of this community. We want to make it the best road we can and as attractive as possible,” she said, noting the group was recently shown a conceptual design by the Haddonfield-based engineering firm Remington & Vernick that featured cherry trees blooming down the stretch of Route 70’s grassy median strip, wrought-iron gas lights lining the sides of the roadway, sidewalks, plenty of stacking lanes for turns and well-marked pedestrian cross walks.

“It could be so wonderful,” she said.

But one aspect of Remington & Vernick’s design has not sat well with task-force member Phil Guerreri, who represents the Erlton South neighborhood.

“The design, while beautiful, calls for an extra lane in each direction from Pennsauken to Marlton in addition to stacking lanes. They’re proposing widening the road by cutting into the median,” he said. “The Erlton area would, in fact, lose most of its median, losing the green in the middle of the roadway to mostly concrete.”

He noted he and other Erlton residents are adamantly against running a six-lane highway through the Erlton and Barclay residential areas, “but others on the task force simply aren’t recognizing that these neighborhoods are not commercial areas.

“(Others in the group) have given the impression that for a better looking, faster roadway, they’ll sacrifice Erlton,” he added, noting that Route 70 should not be considered a contiguous highway.

“It’s long, and has varying personalities throughout its length,” he said.

Guerreri also told The Sun that the DOT has historically rejected the concept of trees along major roadways, as they’re considered a hazard.

“From what I’ve read, they also aren’t in favor of (gas) lights because they could cause glare – another hazard,” he said. “So, if you strip away all the pretty trees and the attractive lights lining the road, what’s left? Just widening the road – which is what the DOT has expressed an interest in doing from the get-go.”

As of press time, DOT officials could not be reached for comment.

Route 70 became the subject of heated debate in the township last year when the DOT closed multiple median openings along the highway to conduct a two-month study on traffic flow at Platt’s behest.

Many residents and business owners were outraged that the left-turn access points were eliminated for a long stretch of the roadway. Throughout the study, they expressed their fear to township officials that permanent closure of the cut-throughs would pave the way for a widening of Route 70.

Others told Platt and Council that they were relieved the cut-throughs were closed, arguing that they were safety hazards and part of the reason for the roadway’s perpetual traffic snarls.

Platt began appointing people to a task force in October – one month after the DOT presented the township with a controversial traffic and safety improvement plan for Route 70. The proposal, which the state department hopes to implement in late spring, according to officials in the DOT, will permanently close six median openings along Route 70 between Haddonfield Road and I-295.

The task force, which met for the first time on Jan. 25, was given a few months to come up with a list of creative solutions for improving the flow, look and safety of the state-owned highway as a way to be more interactive in the road’s future rather than simply reacting to the DOT’s plans. Representatives from the neighborhoods most affected by Route 70 traffic – Barclay, Erlton, Lakeview, Wexford Leas and Charleston – have met on a regular basis within the township’s municipal complex.

When contacted, Platt said he would comment after the final task force report was released.

Art Campbell, director of the Cherry Hill Regional Chamber of Commerce, has been representing the township’s business community. On Feb. 27, he organized a town-hall-style forum that brought together Cherry Hill’s Business Partnership, Chamber of Commerce, task force members and area businesses to ascertain where the stores, restaurants and other facilities that line Route 70 stand on the roadway’s future.

Campbell noted that the business community has expressed concern over the idea of adding an extra lane in both directions, but is supportive of creating left-turn stacking lanes.

“Businesses along Route 70 don’t want it to become a 60-mph turnpike,” he told The Sun.

Campbell said that he has shared that fear with the task force – and that’s what the project has been about.

“I think that regardless of what happens to our recommendations (once the task force disbands), it was a positive experience. The basic idea of the task force is people with varying perspectives from different parts of the township sitting in a room together and talking about things they’ve never talked about before,” Campbell said. “Whatever happens when it’s complete, I think it’s been a step in the right direction.”