New entrance expected
to handle recycling trucks
LAKEWOOD — Citing the need to improve traffic flow at the Ocean County Northern Recycling Center, the county Board of Freeholders is moving ahead with plans to construct a new entrance to the center.
"This project will provide a new entrance to our recycling center in Lakewood by using Towbin Avenue in the Lakewood Industrial Park," said Freeholder Director James F. Lacey, who serves as liaison to the Ocean County Department of Solid Waste Manage-ment. "This will improve safety in the area of the center by diverting the truck traffic from New Hampshire Avenue to the new entrance."
Lacey said the changes will allow the New Hampshire Avenue entrance to be used solely by county residents who are dropping off materials at the center.
"This recycling center is very popular with county residents," Lacey said. "Hundreds of residents a day use this 24-hour recyclables drop-off facility."
According to a press release, the new entrance is expected to provide more queuing space for trucks and eliminate the back-ups of trucks onto New Hampshire Avenue. On-site traffic flow also is expected to improve since trucks can reach their destination without crossing other areas of traffic.
The project also includes a new inbound and outbound scale system, which will increase the number of scales at the recycling center to three.
"Because of the large volume of trucks using the facility, the current scale system is growing outdated," Lacey said. "Trucks need to be weighed so we can determine the amount of tonnage collected to monitor the county’s recycling rate."
The board was scheduled to award a contract to C.J. Hesse Inc., Belford section of Middletown, in the amount of $1.8 million during its regular meeting July 7. The county’s solid waste consultant, Hatch Mott MacDonald, of Mill-burn, designed the project. The consultant also will oversee construction.
Work on the project is scheduled to begin later this month and is scheduled to be completed in six months.
Ernest J. Kuhlwein Jr., assistant director of the county’s Department of Solid Waste Management, noted that the county needed to obtain a wetlands permit for the construction of the new road.
He added there is a greater degree of difficulty in building this road since there are wetlands involved and the area being built over is an old landfill.
Work includes extending Towbin Avenue into the recycling center.
"Once it’s all done, the best thing about this will be the truck traffic that will be diverted off of New Hampshire Avenue," Lacey said.
Funding for the project comes from the county’s Recycling Revenue Fund and the state’s Resource Recovery Investment Tax Fund.