By BILL BARLOW/Special to the Sentinel
CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE — The Cape May County Board of Commissioners — the governing body known as the freeholders until this year — has called for safety improvements at the intersection of Exit 25 of the Garden State Parkway and Roosevelt Boulevard in the Marmora section of Upper Township.
The board requests the New Jersey Turnpike Authority conduct a safety inspection and make improvements, citing a large number of accidents there. The resolution was approved during a board meeting March 9.
The vote follows a similar resolution approved by Upper Township Committee in January, citing a large number of crashes at the intersection.
The intersection sees traffic year-round, with extensive delays on summer weekends as beach vacationers pour in from the parkway and Route 9. Since the closing of the Beesleys Point Bridge in 2004, most traffic from Upper Township to Somers Point has been routed to the intersection.
Local officials say there is a disproportionate number of crashes at the intersection, as drivers fail to yield or sometimes race the light to enter the northbound lane as cars heading from Ocean City continue toward Route 9.
“Something needs to be done there,” Committeeman Curtis Corson said in January.