Egg Harbor City can build road for emergency vehicles

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The closure would have caused motorists - emergency response vehicles, included - to be detoured 17 miles around the construction site.

"This created an obvious public safety issue," City Administrator Thomas Henshaw said. "It would have been unacceptable for our police, fire and first aid vehicles to be detoured 17 miles out of the way when they are responding to a potentially life-threatening situation."

These safety concerns prompted City Council to petition the Pinelands Commission for permission to circumvent the typically lengthy permit process so an alternate roadway could be built before work starts on the project, which Henshaw said is expected to happen sometime in the next three to six weeks.

The commission has since issued the city a verbal approval for its request, Henshaw said.

As a result, Kant Street will be extended 600 feet northwest through a wooded area where it will connect with Hamburg Avenue.

"There was previously a trail there, there are not that many trees that need to be taken down," Henshaw said.

The new roadway will have an unfinished surface made of crushed gravel or asphalt, Henshaw said. This will enable emergency response vehicles to continue to use the Kant Street extension to shorten their response time to emergencies even after the Philadelphia Avenue project is completed.

The project, which is now part of the ongoing multimillion-dollar Egg Harbor City North utility project, will be largely funded by grants through the U.S. Department of Agriculture and is expected to take two to three weeks to be completed - weather permitting, Henshaw said.

E-mail Robert Spahr:

RSpahr@pressofac.com