The Freeholder Board has selected an engineering design firm to develop plans and specifications for improvements to Haddonfield-Berlin Road (Route 561) in Voorhees Township. The improvements will include improved drainage and the resurfacing of the roadway from Evesham Road (Route 544) to Laurel Oak Road.
Camden County Engineer Kevin Becica said the work will prevent flooding, make the road smoother, and provide for easier access. The storm drains will also be inspected.
Voorhees Code Enforcement Officer Joe Hale said the county will not only pave but will look at existing piping and infrastructure underneath and will repair that as well.
He said the cost of the project will not be known until the engineering report is finished.
The design work on the project will be performed by Environmental Resolutions of Mt. Laurel and should be completed within 17 weeks. Construction on the project should begin by April.
Voorhees Township Manager Larry Spellman thinks the project is long overdue.
“The need is urgent,” he said. “The road is in desperate shape.
“It’s going to be tough to keep that road viable during the course of the winter if we have another bad winter,” Spellman added. “We have been promised that road to be repaired for probably three years now.”
He said he was hoping the work would have been done in 2011.
“The road has reached its useful life and it needs to be repaired,” Hale said, noting pot holes have been patched repeatedly and that metal plates that were supposed to be temporary are still there.
Hale hopes the work starts in spring and finishes over the summer when there is no school and many people are on vacation.
Spellman said some design work being done to improve safety at the intersection of Haddonfield-Berlin Road (Route 561) and White Horse Road includes striping and rumble strips.
Hale said the infrastructure in some places is as old as 50 years.
Spellman said the township put the request to improve Haddonfield-Berlin Road to the county five years ago.
Now that work at Centennial Boulevard and Cooper Road has finished, the Haddonfield-Berlin Road project is now top priority.
Spellman pointed out that the work affects not just Voorhees but also Cherry Hill and Berlin.
“Repairing and reconstruction of county roads is one of the most important jobs of county government,” Freeholder Ian Leonard, liaison to the Camden County Department of Public Works, said. “We appreciate the patience and understanding of motorists for any inconvenience they may experience during the project.
“Our residents depend on us to do upkeep on the roads, something that’s no easy task, especially with the tough winters we’ve had the last two years,” he added.
The Camden County Department of Public Works is responsible for maintaining over 400 center line miles of county roadway. The Freeholder Board has allocated $10 million for county road improvement projects in 2011 alone.
Numerous projects have been completed or are nearing completion throughout the county.
“Camden County’s Department of Public Works is dedicated to making our area safer for motorists and pedestrians through county highway construction projects, snow removal and road maintenance, including pothole repairs, street sweeping, grass cutting and storm drainage upkeep,” Leonard said.
The Public Works Department is located in Lindenwold where personnel are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to serve the residents of Camden County.
For more information on projects across the county and in your area, please visit www.camdencounty.com.
