Politics & Government
College Drive Traffic Woes Will Soon End as Buckwald Drive Reopens
Access to both entrances of the college come Monday after a week of closures to Buckwald side of campus.
Construction on will be completed this weekend, opening up the back entrance to This comes as a relief to local residents who have felt the burden of extra traffic along Hooper Avenue this past week.
According to Tara Kelly, Vice President of College Advancement, construction began October 26 to put in a new water main to supply the . The Gateway Building will house many of the bachelor-degree classes for students earning a degree from Kean College.
The water main construction is under the direction of United Water, who has contracted J.F. Kiely to put in the new piping. The water main is going to be connected to the local source at Church Road, and will run under the H. George Buckwald Bridge.
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Construction was supposed to be completed on October 31, however, crews ran into some issues when trying to dig under the bridge.
"While they were drilling, they ran into some issues using the directional boring" said Michael Bruno, a facilities manager at OCC. "They are trying to avoid disturbing the ecosystem, as well as the pylons for the bridge."
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While the construction crews worked, some students felt the communication from the college about the road closure was less than optimal.
"It's frustrating not knowing when the road will open back up." said Dana Colthart, a resident of Lacey. "A daily e-mail would be nice."
Other students were concerned about the amount of traffic coming into the college on one road.
"College Drive is an accident waiting to happen.” said Danielle Whitman, of Brick. "Right now it's a big inconvenience to drive around to this road. Maybe they could have waited until winter break."
"I pay for these classes, I want to be on time." said Joe Genovese, of Barnegat.
Signs on Church Road and Hooper Avenue just inform drivers that "Buckwald Dr. will be closed on Oct. 26" and were not updated to inform drivers that the road was still closed this past week.
According to foreman Kevin Fitzgerald, construction will be finished this weekend and the road will be open Monday.
