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Pinelands Commission OKs parkway widening
Published: Friday, November 14, 2008
From Press staff reportsNEW LISBON - The Pinelands Commission voted Friday to allow widening of a 50-mile stretch of the Garden State Parkway between Toms River and Somers Point.The commission voted to approve a memorandum of understanding with the New Jersey Turnpike Authority to add a third lane of travel and wider shoulders to that section of the parkway. It will include adding parallel bridges over the Bass and Mullica Rivers as well as repairing the existing spans.All but one mile of the project is in the Pinelands protected area. Most of the new construction will take place on the median.The project will have an effect on some threatened and endangered plants and animals in the zone, and is not totally consistent with Pine-lands regulations.
of the highway widening project.The authority will meet part of this obligation at the Turtle Creek site in Washington Township, Burlington County, setting aside 44 acres for endangered and threatened species. The other 98.76 acres will be determined at another time.