By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
The Garden State Parkway has completed a $5 million overhaul of the Ocean View service plaza, including new safety improvements that are drawing praise from a top Cape May County elected official.
Cape May County Board of Commissioners Director Leonard Desiderio, who also serves as mayor of Sea Isle City, criticized the Parkway’s operating agency when the project came to a halt in late summer during construction disruptions.
However, Desiderio said he is pleased that the project has finally been completed by the New Jersey Highway Authority after a lengthy delay that he sarcastically suggested was “four years longer than I expected.”
“It was worth the wait, because it does work,” he said in an interview now that the project has been completed.
Ocean View is one of nine service plazas along the Parkway undergoing improvements to their entrance and exit ramps. The total cost for all nine plazas is $28 million, with Ocean View’s share being $5 million.
The work at Ocean View included lengthening the acceleration and deceleration lanes, improving roadway drainage, building new stormwater management basins, upgrading electric service, converting to LED lighting, and replacing guiderail, along with milling and paving, according to the Turnpike Authority.
The longer acceleration and deceleration lanes make it safer for motorists entering and leaving the service plaza.
When the project came to a standstill during the late summer and fall, motorists were forced to squeeze through concrete construction barriers as they merged onto the high-speed lanes of busy Parkway traffic – a potentially dangerous scenario, Desiderio said.
“People have been telling me, ‘Lenny, someone’s going to get killed,’” he said in August when work was halted.
In August, Turnpike Authority spokesman Tom Feeney said supply chain disruptions delayed the delivery of electric cable and light fixtures for the project, bringing work to a halt. There had also been a delay in relocating the utility lines for the project.
But now, the concrete barriers and construction cones that confronted motorists during the work are gone. In their place are freshly paved, longer acceleration and deceleration lanes for traffic entering and leaving the service plaza.
“This is something where the state of New Jersey came through,” Desiderio said of the safety improvements.
Desiderio has been focusing on the project because the Ocean View service plaza is located only about a mile from the Parkway’s Exit 17 leading to Sea Isle City, his hometown.
In its current configuration, the interchange is split into two parts. Exit 17’s off-ramp on the southbound side of the Parkway merges with Sea Isle Boulevard. For motorists wanting to access the Parkway’s northbound lanes, they must follow Sea Isle Boulevard out of town and then hop on a separate on-ramp.
However, there is no southbound access to the Parkway at Exit 17 off Sea Isle Boulevard. In addition, there is no exit to Sea Isle off the Parkway’s northbound side. Sea Isle lacks an off-ramp northbound at Exit 17.
To access Sea Isle off the Parkway’s northbound side, motorists must take Exit 13 into neighboring Avalon and then crawl along local roads. The trip through Avalon eventually leads to the Townsends Inlet Bridge, crossing over into Sea Isle’s southern tip.
One shortcut that is known by local motorists is to drive a little farther north on the Parkway and then make a U-turn at the Ocean View service plaza. That gives them access to the Parkway’s southbound lanes and the Exit 17 off-ramp to Sea Isle.
Desiderio noted that he is among the Parkway motorists who often have to use the U-turn to loop around to Exit 17 southbound.
He said it was crucial to get the construction work done to improve safety for the motorists making the U-turn – especially in heavy traffic during the busy summer tourism season.
“It’s much safer now for the motorists, especially for those heading north and looping around,” he said. “We have a lot of people heading to work in Sea Isle City that way.”
With the construction now finished, Desiderio wants the Turnpike Authority to formally name a small memorial located at the Ocean View service plaza in honor of Cape May County’s military veterans. The name he prefers is “Cape May County Veterans Park.”
Desiderio had discussions with the authority two years ago about renaming the memorial, but things were put on the back burner because of the COVID-19 pandemic and plans for the Ocean View service plaza’s safety improvements, he said.
Currently, there is a plaque at the base of the memorial that reads, “This monument is Dedicated to the Men and Women of Our Armed Forces … Past, Present, and Future.”
