Turnpike Authority Denies Community Sound Wall for Spurious Reasons
Turnpike Authority Denies Evergreen Woods Sound Wall for Spurious Reasons
Skip to main contentPoint Pleasant, NJLakewood, NJToms River, NJWall, NJManasquan-Belmar, NJHowell, NJBerkeley, NJAsbury Park, NJManchester, NJFreehold, NJNew JerseyTop National NewsSee All CommunitiesThis post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.The New Jersey Turnpike Authority Authority (NJTA) defers to their consultants. Their commissioners have no science background but are elected to their post. Theirs is a political post and they must keep their mouths shut. Everything they do is in lockstep with Governor, Christie's agenda. Evergreen Woods, in Brick, NJ, appealed to the governor for help. We were handed over to the Ocean County Engineer, now retired Frank Scarantino, who oversaw the Exit 91 Overpass Project.Find out what's happening in Brickwith free, real-time updates from Patch.He said the NJTA was afraid of setting a precedent and used very narrow policy to exclude others. If we got our sound wall, all others would want one too. Cherrywood Farms condos, the upscale homes on the north side, received a 15-foot wall, adjoining neighbors didn’t. The NJTA dismissed this. According to the Environmental Statement (EO215), we were considered but fell short a mere $5,900 per residence.Find out what's happening in Brickwith free, real-time updates from Patch.Paul Carpenter Associates conducted the sound study for the Exit 91 Overpass project. The artificial cutoff was the south end of Evergreen Woods. In this recording, Sharon Carpenter, V.P., gave pat answers, but we discovered that the widening and overpass projects overlapped. According to NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act), an overlap warrants a cumulative effect study but wasn’t done.The widening runs along the Overpass Project. Evergreen Woods begins at the overpass and runs north only 5/8 of a mile. Only the front portion was counted in the study as if the noise doesn’t travel anywhere else in the neighborhood. The true numbers of affected homes were not counted. Subjected to levels of 75+db at all hours, our homes shake as if experiencing an earthquake. A number of children and adults now have asthma and other upper respiratory issues from exposure to fumes from the 8-lane Parkway.The small trees planted along the Evergreen Woods fence was an anemic attempt to shut us up. But when so many suffer such a loss of quality of life, we will not stop until we have a redress for the wanton environmental destruction and disruption of our lives. The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch? 