College Drive, Fischer Boulevard Traffic Changes in Early Design Stages
County receives OK on wetlands permits but construction more than a year away
Photos
There may come a day where you’ll no longer be able to turn left from Fischer Boulevard to go south on Hooper Avenue.
According to Frank Scarantino, Ocean County engineer, that day is a long way off.
“Even if we built it tomorrow, it doesn’t mean we’d turn off the light tomorrow,” Scarantino said Tuesday.
The county is in the process of designing improvements to the Fischer Boulevard and College Drive jughandles on Hooper Avenue to accommodate increases in traffic expected as a result of the Kean at Ocean partnership at Ocean County College.
In April and again in August, residents of Squire Village, a housing development just south of OCC, received letters advising them of the county’s application to the Department of Environmental Protection for wetlands permissions needed for the project.
The application included preliminary drawings of the changes – changes that made neighboring residents nervous about how they would be able to access their development. Currently residents of Squire Village can use the jughandle at College Drive to turn left and go south on Hooper Avenue, and Fischer Boulevard is a second option. The preliminary drawings gave residents concerns that both of those would be eliminated, forcing northbound drivers to use the jughandle at Silver Bay Road, a half-mile further north, to access southbound Hooper Avenue and reach their homes.
Scarantino said the plans residents received are preliminary plans that only address wetlands issues, and that there will continue to be access from Fischer to go south on Hooper Avenue, and other possible solutions for Squire Village and nearby streets.
“They’re designed to show dimensions sufficient to make sure the environmental impacts are mitigated,” Scarantino said. “They’re not construction plans.”
Scarantino said the Squire Village Association reached out to him expressing concerns about the plans, and he met with a committee of three residents in late August.
"There were a lot of unknowns," said John Harris, one of the members of the committee. But he said Scarantino told the committee that the drawings they received as part of the letters announcing the project were just preliminary plans.
Harris said Scarantino told them a left-turn lane from the northbound lanes of Hooper Avenue into Squire Village was one possibility, and noted it was not included on the plans because it has no wetlands impact.
"I understand their angst," Scarantino said. "They had all the right questions and did fully understand what I was trying to explain," including the fact that there are plenty of options of how to accommodate the access needs of Squire Village.
"There are some very good ideas in place, all of which would probably work," he said. And there's plenty of time, too, he said. Scarantino said that while the DEP has issued the wetlands permits, construction on the project is still at least a year away.
"If everything goes perfectly, we could begin in late 2013," he said, "but that rarely happens, so we're more likely looking at early 2014."
"Our comfort level is a lot better than it was," said Harris, who lives on Liverpool Court. "He was very professional. We plan to meet with him regularly" as the project proceeds. Harris said the committee had reported back to the Squire Village board but the association hasn't had a general meeting since the committee met with Scarantino.
Scarantino said he also is consulting with members of the Toms River Regional Board of Education because changes to College Drive and to Fischer Boulevard affect Toms River Intermediate East, which sits on the eastern side of Hooper across from Squire Village.
"I want to make sure all their concerns are addressed as well," Scarantino said.
The Fischer Boulevard intersection is the primary focus of the plans. Scarantino said an initial consideration of extending Fischer Boulevard west was determined to not be feasible, so the proposed change would add a lane that parallels the current jughandle, to take drivers from Fischer Boulevard and funnel them around the circle into the right lane of the southbound lanes of Hooper Avenue.
Scarantino said that even when that construction is completed, it's unlikely the current left-turn signal from Fischer onto Hooper will be turned off soon. The volume of traffic will determine when the light is shut off.
Currently, Hooper Avenue in that stretch handles 32,000 to 34,000 vehicles per day. Traffic from the Kean at Ocean opening will add to that, but Scarantino said he believes it will be 2016 or 2017 at the soonest before the traffic volume will justify turning off the left-turn signal. It could be as far off as 2020.
"It's not happening tomorrow," he said.
.
7:46 am on Sunday, September 30, 2012
As someone that is at the intersection of Fischer and Hooper at least twice a day, it isn't the left turn from Fischer to go south on Hooper that is a problem. It has always been the jughandle to turn off of Hooper onto Fischer.
TC
4:00 pm on Sunday, September 30, 2012
I agree 100% . . . the problem is north of Fischer Blvd in Silverton. As the plans look now, these changes will send even more traffic into Silverton.
ikidunot
8:40 am on Sunday, September 30, 2012
Just so everyone knows, this is a precursor for a road to be built from Fischer to the Parkway through a ton of wetlands...Any time that an "official" from Ocean County says "I understand your angst" That means "We're doing what we want no matter". It also means another useless project that has no hope of correcting anything except the employment situation of an unemployed relative of an official. Traffic in certain areas of this county is unmanageable. Mostly because the County has felt the need to "fix" it. Brace yourselves for another ten million dollar project that will do nothing useful for anyone trying to navigate the roads of Ocean County.
Larry Romano
10:47 am on Sunday, September 30, 2012
Fisher Boulevard was suppose to connect to Shorrock Rd/Parkway, Paper streets were prepared and the project was stopped because our politicians said that the road could not be completed due to EPA concerns about endagering tree frogs at the Buckwald Bridge which was made with special wood to not endanger the frog. Now we have a asphalt bridge in its place (no problem?) Lesiure village complaining about the paper street designation way after the fact so they could get acess to Shrorock Rd, and now the traffic Engr wants again to ignore the protected wetlands and inconvience all residents that use Fisher Blvd everyday. This is totally not acceptable. Come up with a better plan.
Mike
7:30 pm on Sunday, September 30, 2012
The officials do not care about the environment, wetlands, wildlife, etc. Its build, build, build. They never should have let the engineers that originally designed all of these "jughandles" go ahead with their plans. No where else would you find all of this nonsense. A left turn should be a left turn!
Local
8:43 pm on Sunday, September 30, 2012
Republicans now committing voter fraud, look at news stories in Florida.
I have spoken
6:14 pm on Monday, October 1, 2012
Blah....Blah....Blah....
TC
8:51 pm on Sunday, September 30, 2012
It's so insulting to the taxpayers on at least 2 fronts. First, to say "it's not happening tomorrow" is so patronizing. Whether it happens today, tomorrow, or 10 years from now, it will negatively affect residents and taxpayers. Second, the "needs" and requests of Ocean County College are clearly taking precedence over those of taxpaying citizens. It's so wrong on so many levels, several of which have been identified in previous comments.
Martin
8:04 am on Monday, October 1, 2012
Hooper Ave. in Silverton needs attention now, not College Drive. The Church Rd. exit from OCC stacks up dozens of cars at Hooper every day, and everyone knows what a mess there is on Brick Blvd. approaching Hooper. The Kettle Creek jughandle is a kamikaze situation daily.
A solution to this is something that really should "happen tomorrow." The county engineer is responsible for all those roads, but ignores the problem.
Sue
8:46 am on Monday, October 1, 2012
Yes, that's the worst bottle-neck around:
Go to SeeClickFix.com and look up
"Hooper/Brick Blvd/Church/Kettle Creek"
County should connect Fischer to Shorrock and keep Parkway traffic moving toward Seaside (and 1000s of daily TR commuters, too)
JD
10:43 am on Monday, October 1, 2012
You can't connect Fisher to Shorrock...
but you can connect Fisher to Church.... and new on/off ramps to Parkway coming at Church and North Bay.
TRMom
10:38 am on Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Yes, and if these changes do move ahead - the congestion in Silverton will only get worse! The next available u-turn is at Silver Bay Road, which requires you to cross at least 1 lane of traffic to be able to turn left. At least a few more hundred cars a day will be there, plus a few dozen more school buses every day. The last time the light at College Drive was closed do to a power failure all the school buses used the 7-11 parking lot for u-turns ... how can that be legal or safe!!?? If only someone could plan these things with a complete picture of what's going to be affected and not just worry about their own jobs!
sha
8:24 am on Monday, October 1, 2012
I'm with Mike. What's with all the jughandles in NJ? This state literally keeps taxpayers going in circles. Why can they now build on protected wetlands for this project but not the Shorrock Rd extension project? It doesn't make sense. Did the tree frogs decide to move?
JD
10:31 am on Monday, October 1, 2012
This isn't going to do a darn thing...
Waste of money...
The real problem on Hooper is between Fischer and Church.
If they take Fischer straight out... they can connect it to Church... this will alleviate a lot of traffic especially with the new Parkway exit ramps at Church and North Bay.
Barry Fleckmann
1:31 pm on Monday, October 1, 2012
EVERYTHING pertains to M- O - T - O - R - I - S - T - S. What about us poor, hapless schleps who actually W - A - L - K to Ocean County College???!!! College Drive has NO amenities (like sidewalks!!) to make the journey more comfortable, not to mention MORE SAFE!! Last week, I was actually almost run-over (by a careless student) while crossing College Drive IN A CROSSWALK!! I sent an E-mail to the Board of Chosen Freeholders (to complain), but my E-mail was returned. YOU HAVEN'T HEARD THE LAST OF ME!!!
DaveL
3:12 pm on Monday, October 1, 2012
How to fix the traffic in this area:
#1 - Extend Fischer Boulevard to North Bay
#2 - Extend Shorrock Street to Church Road
#3 - GSP Exit/Entrance @ the new Fischer / N. Bay Avenue interchange
#4 - Widen Hooper Avenue to 3 lanes in each direction between Yorktowne and Fischer.
#5 - Yes, Barry... there is no reason there aren't sidewalks going into OCC. That seems like a stupid oversight that can be fixed easily. Many students walk to OCC and would benefit.
Robert Bressman
3:05 pm on Tuesday, October 2, 2012
extending Fisher Blvd to North Bay you would have to go through the JCP&L easement, I think the original idea the town had was to do that but they couldn't, there is only maybe 50 feet of property between the parkway and North Bay, you would need a traffic light at the point Fischer meets North bay, if it could be done and then because of lack of property you'd have traffic backed up on North Bay at the entrance, plus the parkway would have to be widened. Shorrock runs parallel to Church, how do you extend Shorrock to Church? Maybe it sounds good on paper, but when you look at it, those ideas won't fly.
Martin
6:56 pm on Monday, October 1, 2012
"new on/off ramps to Parkway coming at Church and North Bay" & "this is a precursor for a road to be built from Fischer to the Parkway" from 2 posts above... Who said so? What's the source of these so-called facts?
I HOPE THEY'RE TRUE, but the county or state has yet to announce such improvements. With their shameful do-nothing record, I'm very skeptical.
Sue
6:58 pm on Monday, October 1, 2012
Patch, please get the facts for us from the politicians. It would be the best news for Ocean County drivers in a decade!
DaveL
7:10 pm on Monday, October 1, 2012
Do not quote me, but I believe reading that the GSP interchanges have been put on hold indefinitely for Whitty Road and Church Road. The priority is Brick/Lakewood, exits 88-89-91. That being said, the GSP may revisit the interchange proposals next decade. That is just what I remember hearing, hopefully someone at the Patch can contact Ocean County Engineering or the TP Authority to confirm.
JD
11:19 pm on Monday, October 1, 2012
Quite frankly, unless they extend Fisher to Church or North Bay...
the exchange at Chuch and North Bay is a waste.
If they have a full exchange at Parkway and Rte. 70.... as well as Parkway and Cedar Bridge... that will alleviate a lot of traffic coming up/down New Hampshire and Rte. 9... becuase you have to drive through Toms River if you want to get to Parkway South.
LikesTea2012
7:39 pm on Monday, October 1, 2012
Nothing that helps anybody will ever happen in Toms River again. Lakewood is now king. The Freeholders care about their own power and what perks that power brings them. All we ever hear about from these guys is "fiscal responsibility" and "AAA bond rating." Freeholders - use that bond rating and FIX THE PROBLEM!!! This group is so arrogant. They know they can't lose. They know the Democrats will never muster a decent, electable candidate to challange them. It's over, folks. The self serving, self important, superior scum have won.
Barry Fleckmann
9:12 am on Tuesday, October 2, 2012
heh, heh, heh, LikesTea2012, I LIKE your style! Yes, The Freeholders, who have even MORE power than United States Supreme Court Justices who are nominated for life! Well, Ocean County Freeholders seem to hold office into THE AFTERLIFE! What am I talking about? One-Party Rule!! The present crew, Little & Vicari & Company seem to have held office since the Roosevelt administration. No, not Franklin D, Teddy Roosevelt!! Sure, they keep the tax-base low, by giving the taxpayers police, fire, garbage pick-up and snow removal, but they give the put-upon taxpayers LITTLE ELSE! In November (November 6th, to be exact), VOTE THE BUMS OUT!!! MORE TO COME, unless I get banned!
Rem
7:45 pm on Monday, October 1, 2012
As ikidunot said is correct. Believe me ,do not believe a word they say as they will do what ever they want just like the back road out of the college right across freshwater wetlands.. It is sad these are the waters for the bay and the college holds the main program for the estuary system so on the right hand they are using state of the art methods for retention ponds while the left hand is destroying the wetlands, and if it happens to be lands trust property they ignore everything there web site stands for. Go online to Ocean county natural lands trust. This property is supposed to be protected except when the freeholders want to use it for something else.
John Pine
1:11 am on Tuesday, October 2, 2012
You cant expand Fischer going west to Church or the Parkway, those are County Trust lands for preservation only. Amazing all the comments on here that are OK with the destruction that would result from extending Fischer to Church or the parkway. They are already in trouble with the state for building that OCC-N.Bay connector road on Natural Trust lands! Want less traffic from OCC? How about improving the pathetic bus service the college gets? More students need to be taking mass transit, but thats not gonna happen when only one bus line (#67) that runs every 2 hours is the only option!
Barry Fleckmann
9:56 am on Wednesday, October 3, 2012
"How about improving the pathetic bus service the college gets? More students need to be taking mass transit, but that's not gonna happen when only one bus line (#67) that runs every 2 hours is the only option!"
I got news for you, John Pine, the WHOLE passenger bus service in Ocean County NEEDS to be upgraded! I ride the #67, NJ Transit bus, as well as the #559, on the Route 9 corridor. Ocean Ride stinks, as well. Six months out of the year (the winter months, here) I live in St. Petersburg, Florida. Down there busses run EVERY 20 minutes. Every street is equipped with a sidewalk. Jughandles DON'T exist. Whenever I tell a Floridian about "jughandles," they just look at me like I'm from Mars, or something. They say, "what about left-hand turn lanes?" Down, there, left-hand turn lanes are EVERYWHERE!
George
6:55 am on Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Yes, the "Ocean Ride" politician should talk to the College's parking/transportation czar, but what about the 10,000 other vehicles a day that go to Toms River from the Parkway exit at Rt. 70 -- clogging up Brick Blvd., Hooper Ave. and Fischer Blvd.?
Martin
6:59 am on Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Most people care about the bottleneck at Hooper-Church-Brick Blvd. that a Fischer Blvd. extension would alleviate -- judging by the comments here -- not another gift of a road improvement to the college (paid for by us taxpayers). The county has to get its priorities straight!
Barry Fleckmann
8:59 am on Tuesday, October 2, 2012
WELL, I TOLD YOU THAT YOU HAVEN'T HEARD THE LAST OF ME. I just completed my walk to Ocean County College, Hooper Avenue to College Drive, to my office on the top floor of the college library (yeah, right). No incidents to report, today. My streak is STILL safe, however: NOBODY ever offers me a ride!! Thank you to DaveL for agreeing with me about THE NEED for sidewalks!! Ocean County is the city/town/county (take your pick?) that can be aptly called, "The Sidewalk to Nowhere." Sidewalks (where you can find them!) begin, and end, and begin again, in a willy-nilly fashion. If you build them (sidewalks), they (pedestrians) will come!!
MORE TO COME!
John Pine
8:22 pm on Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Unfortunately it seems Ocean County could care less about people who don't drive, just look at how pathetic Ocean Ride is!
Don W.
9:26 am on Tuesday, October 2, 2012
I'm not an engineer, but regarding extending Fiscer to N. Bay, couldn't a somewhat raised road (picture a low and long bridgde) minimize damage to the wetlands. The runoff from the road could be channeled away. Like I said, though, I'm no engineer, so the cost and creation may be too much. Thoughts?
Don W.
9:26 am on Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Fischer*
George
1:09 pm on Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Sorry, but the freeloaders used up all money available for your good idea on their pet projects pandering to their political cronies.
John Pine
8:42 pm on Tuesday, October 2, 2012
It would still require alot of tree clearing, which is illegal in a protected area. I agree the current plans will make traffic worse. It doesn't help that the timing of the light at Hooper + Church causes backups. Church avenue is a heavily used road and should be widened to two lanes in each direction. The intersection of Fischer Blvd and Hooper Ave needs to be completely reconfigured. The jughandle onto Fischer always backs up, thus there needs to be a new option. Both roads need to be widenened in that spot and a traditional intersection (no jughandles) needs to be put in place. There will be a TWO LEFT lane turn signal from s/b Hooper onto Fisher. (Hooper would be s/b 4 lanes in this spot). There would also be 2 left lanes for traffic from Fischer to make the left onto Hooper. In the long run Hooper should be widened to 3 lanes in each direction between 571 and Church Road. It is suprising that they havent planned a pkwy interchange at Church road either since an interchange there would take traffic off Hooper Ave. Which is another idea, since there should be a connection between OCC and the parkway. They illegally build the N.Bay ave connector in a preserve, but that traffic has no where nearby to get on the parkway! This seems to be the root of the whole problem, no nearby pkwy interchange. So ppl are forced onto Hooper.
Barry Fleckmann
9:26 am on Tuesday, October 2, 2012
"We apologize for the inconvenience, but it seems you've attempted to reach an inaccessible area of the Ocean County Government Website."
THAT'S the terse reply (HA!) you receive when you attempt to reach The Ocean County Board of Chosen Freeholders, using E-Mail. "Inaccessible?" You know what ELSE is "inaccessible?" My vote, come this November, THAT'S what! VOTE THE BUMS OUT!!!
Sue
1:15 pm on Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Amen to that! Stupid ideas for projects come out with no rhyme or reason. Who knew the freeloaders want to spend another million of the Squire Villege area of Hooper Ave., in spite of the crying need for road improvements elsewhere! Must be some politically connected pal of theirs in Squire Village who demanded tax dollars be spent there.
Don W.
9:37 am on Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Like this only not as huge I guess...
http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/77235/77235,1205761095,2/stock-photo-super-highway-interstate-road-interchange-bridge-crossing-louisiana-bayou-swamp-over-wetland-and-10456798.jpg
DaveL
3:03 pm on Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Again, I am not an engineer... but I don't see how that wouldn't work. All the wetlands would be protected and preserved, or at least appear to be. Would it be expensive, sure... but if money wasn't wasted this wouldn't be an issue. People (in my opinion) are comfortable having their tax money spent on projects that they will use. Road improvements that make motorists' commutes better, and sidewalks for pedestrians to use safely seem like an easy appropriation of funding.
John Pine
8:50 pm on Tuesday, October 2, 2012
That would cost a huge amount of money. Easier and much cheaper to widen Hooper and Church with a new pkwy interchange.
Rem
7:30 pm on Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Maybe the county engineer should be responsible for the screw up at the college project that is going to cost taxpayers more now. They crossed lands trust property already and sure they will attempt again. Time to vote in new freeholders.
Barry Fleckmann
2:03 pm on Wednesday, October 3, 2012
"Time to vote in new freeholders."
- Rem.
No. It's past time. There's an election on Tuesday, November 6th. Let's change from mere rhetoric, to action!
John Pine
8:49 pm on Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Wouldn't it just be cheaper and make more sense to build a new GSP interchange at Church Road? The problem is ppl in the area are forced all the way up to Route 70 (to go north) or to US 9 (to go south). N.Bay runs right along the pkwy going north, a new entrance ramp to the n/b side would be a piece of cake. A new s/b ramp could be built in the power ROW just to the west of the overpass. It would be much cheaper and more legal than bulldozing woods.
Rem
9:25 pm on Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Look first off the plans are set and a check for $30,000.00 has been paid for the applications for the change. I told you these guys will tell you anything but the truth. The plans are set do not let them tell you they are thinking of other ways to do this according to public questioning. They just think we are all stupid. I have a copy of the application.
Rem
10:49 pm on Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Go here and see the plans.
http://eastcoastwhitetail.com/JugHandleNotice.pdf