JERRY WOLKOWITZ staff Residents of Upper Freehold plant petunias along the proposed path of a county westerly bypass at a “flower power” protest on Saturday at Byron Johnson Park.
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER
Staff Writer
They came armed with snapdragons, magnolias and petunias.
Residents of the Heritage Green development and surrounding areas staged a "soft protest" Saturday of the proposed westerly bypass, to let county officials know they are not happy with the location of the roadway in Upper Freehold.
"We just wanted to get the word out to the ‘powers that be’ at the county level that residents of Upper Freehold are opposed to the road, and [that] we feel the county should look at other options on the table," said Heritage Drive resident Steven Olexsak, who helped organize the event.
Residents planted the flowers along the survey stakes that were recently placed by county workers. They also put up three birdhouses along the route.
"The county seems bent on putting this road through without looking at other options," Olexsak said. "There are some residents in town who think they need to slow down and look at some other alternatives."
About 100 residents showed up for the "flower power" event, he stated.
"It was a pretty big crowd," Olexsak said. "A bunch of us just feel there has to be some other alternative to this road as close as it is to residential areas and a township park."
The bypass has been in the works for more than a decade. County Engineer Theodore Giannechini has said in the past that he was surprised at opposition to the roadway.
Upper Freehold officials even included the parameters of the westerly bypass years ago when they designed the plans for Byron Johnson Park, Giannechini has said.
There would be "way too much" traffic generated by the roadway in Upper Freehold, Olexsak stated.
"On any given night, there are over 200 children playing in the park," he added. "And it’s next to a development with 86 homes. It would just bring too much traffic. This is the only section in Upper Freehold where there’s a lot of pedestrian traffic."
Olexsak acknowledged that there are traffic problems in Allentown that the bypass would help.
Allentown Mayor Stuart Fierstein has said the bypass is needed in order to help relieve traffic congestion in the borough.
"Obviously, Allentown has an issue with traffic," Olexsak said. "It does get congested there. We just feel there are other ways to address the traffic situation in Allentown without just taking it from one location and moving it to another location."
There are no plans for any future protests right now, but residents will continue to attend township meetings, he stated.
"It was a fun day," Olexsak said. "The kids were out there with their flowers, signs and posters. We are going to see what happens with the local politicians and how they digest this," Olexsak said. "Then we’ll see where we can go from there."