By Doug Carman, The Packet Group
EAST WINDSOR The walls of the National Conference Center at the Holiday Inn on Monmouth Street muted noise from the adjacent NJ Turnpike during a public reforestation presentation Monday night.
But Turnpike Authority supervising engineer John Keller heard plenty from local residents fearful of noise and frustrated with dirt the massive construction project is expected to bring their neighborhoods.
Several Robbinsville residents were at the public forum, hosted by the NJ Turnpike Authority, to tell Mr. Keller the noise from the highway has gotten louder and the air dirtier since the land-clearing campaign was conducted ahead of the Interchange 6-9 widening project.
”What is very worrisome, especially for the parents, is the dust,” Robbinsville resident Ruxandra Bard said. “I didn’t realize the trees stopped that much.”
Robbinsville’s Washington Estates had the heaviest representation at the meeting, with the majority of the nine speakers residing in that development, which is near the Turnpike. They shared Ms. Bard’s complaints about an increase in noise and dirt because of the deforestation. Residents also complained new drainage areas near their homes have impacted the development’s appearance.
”From our standpoint, it looks like you guys just took a dart, threw it on the map and said ‘this is where we’re going to put them,’” Washington Estates resident Tom Herrman said. He referred to the neighborhood’s appearance and resulting property values as “a joke.”
Among other requests, some of the residents wanted a sound-blocking wall to be erected along the turnpike.
The Turnpike Authority’s study, which Mr. Keller said would be released online this week, called for the construction of a 4-mile wall for a portion of the road.
Mr. Keller said he would give Washington Estates another look and would work with a designated spokesperson for that neighborhood to see what else could be done to lessen the “pain” the residents felt from the construction. However, Mr. Keller told the crowd that engineers selected those sites for the ponds based on the area’s topography.
Mr. Keller also said the deforestation’s effect on the noise levels there were overstated.
”Trees will have some impact on noise but that effect is fairly nominal,” he said.
Washington Estates resident Joe Astemborski was not impressed with Mr. Keller’s answers.
”Well, it’s lip service,” he said after the forum ended. “Until I see a written plan, what I see contradicts what he says.”
Several of the speakers demanded a buffering wall separating Washington Estates and Robbinsville from the noise of the turnpike’s traffic.
Messages to Turnpike Authority spokesman Tom Feeney were not immediately returned before press time Tuesday.
Mr. Keller said the 35-mile portion of the turnpike between Exits 6 and 9 will expand from a three-lane road for each direction to a six-lane highway three for buses and trucks, and three for cars in each direction.
The expansion will take place in 11 municipalities, though the reforestation plan presented Monday applies to only seven of those towns. The Turnpike Authority and the Department of Environmental Protection plan to replace 450 acres of trees ripped from the ground during the $2.5 billion turnpike widening project.
Of those acres, Robbinsville represents about 115 of them, while neighboring East Windsor lost 109. Hamilton, the third Mercer County town affected by the widening, saw 43 acres of trees felled by the project.
Under a lawsuit settlement approved in October, the Turnpike Authority and the DEP agreed to pay Robbinsville $4.7 million to replace the bulldozed trees, with the Turnpike Authority paying the first installment of $1.24 million before the end of this year. The balance of the reforestation money owed the township $3.46 million will be included in the DEP’s annual budget request to the Legislature over the next two fiscal years.
Though the public forum was Monday, comments on the turnpike’s widening can still be sent to The New Jersey Turnpike Authority, P.O. Box 5042, Woodbridge, NJ 07095. Comments must be received by 5 p.m. Feb. 12.
