"Widen the 9... Now, that will finally be happening - to a small piece of the heavily trafficked artery," proclaims an article this week in The Voice of Lakewood.
The article states that following a recent meeting held between local officials and the DOT Commissioner, DOT promised that they are in the "concept development" stage for dualizing a portion of Route 9. The article first asserts the project will be from the lake to Prospect Street. Later on however, the article cites an anonymous source who admits the dualization will only go half that stretch, to John Street.
The Voice article quotes Lakewood Township Committeeman Meir Lichtenstein who excitedly stated: "the DOT Commissioner came down with real plans for this widening project."
The article further adds quotes Assemblyman Avi Schnall - who just so happens to be up for reelection - who vowed: "When you get to this stage, there is basically no going back - once the DOT formalizes a project and puts it into play, there is no walking it back, even when we have a new governor."
Hmmm...
In that case, why does the article state that the project may go one mile to Prospect Street and may only go half that stretch to John Street? If the project is "real" then why haven't we been told the actual scope of the project? It has got to be either one, but not just a "maybe."
Furthermore, its wholly inaccurate to state that once a road widening proposal enters the "concept development" phase, "there is basically no going back," as Schnall vowed. In fact, such has already occurred to Route 9!
Back in 2015, the Township was presented plans for a center left turning lane along Route 9. However, in a 2020 letter - obtained by FAA News - to Ocean County officials, NJDOT officials stated that they decided to withdraw their plans for a center left turning lane, as that proposal would have cost $555 million because "Route 9 is surrounded by a mix of residential and commercial properties with many having frontage and parking close to the Right-of-way. The resulting widening would have required extensive land acquisitions etc, resulting in significant costs for which DOT does not have sufficient funding."
The full letter is shown below:
The center left turning lane proposal was also in the concept development stage - the very same stage about which Schnall vowed "there is basically no going back" - and DOT still dropped the plan once they saw how expensive the work would due to how close to the road the Township already permitted developers to build.
In addition, as part of the Township's 2017 Master Plan process, the Township sought Plan Endorsement from the State Planning Commission. This Plan Endorsement was "necessary" in order for the Township to allow for an increase in permitted impervious cover and a reduction in vegetative cover requirements, (i.e. additional overdevelopment) especially in the Cedarbridge Corporate Campus.
Documents obtained by FAA News, shown below, indicate that as part of this process, Township officials were required to "propose a detailed circulation strategy that... acknowledges that the State does not have the funds to widen Route 9 in the foreseeable future and that Lakewood has investigated alternative north-south roadways to lessen the traffic congestion on Route 9."
In other words, in exchange for receiving the "very important approval" to overdevelop lots in the Cedarbridge Corporate Campus, the State demanded that the Township openly agree to stop asking the State to widen Route 9!
The State Planning Commission further required that Township to "implement land use controls consistent with the desirable typical section for Route 9 in the Access Code. The Township's zoning along Route 9 south of downtown provides for setbacks to help preserve a right of way for future Route 9 widening. However, based on field observation, there appears to be significant development close to the highway. The Township shall provide copies of variances and other provisions that have allowed for encroaching development."
In other words, the State was noting that although the Township previously implemented setback requirements along Route 9 south of downtown to help preserve a right of way for future widening of the roadway, the Township has made widening very difficult as they have also granted variances that have allowed for encroaching development too close to the roadway.
Keeping all this in mind, it seems that our local officials have long made it clear that widening Route 9 is NOT their top priority. And very likely they have made it an impossibility.
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