Improvements To Admiral Wilson Boulevard Pass First Test
NEW JERSEY (CBS) - More than a year's work to improve drainage along the Admiral Wilson Boulevard is wrapping up -- and state officials say the project appears to have passed its first test.
The joke used to be that the Admiral Wilson Boulevard in Camden would flood when the relative humidity rose above 50 percent. We may need to rewrite that joke, because the highway remained fully open and drained pretty well last Wednesday when nearly a half-inch of rain fell.
New Jersey Transportation Department spokesman Tim Greeley says, "It was pretty evident that if this had been a year ago, there would have been at the least, lane closures in each direction on Route 30, if not worse."
Greeley says the road flooded 80 times in the last four years. The eight-million dollar federal stimulus project installed a berm to block tidal overflows, and four outfalls to channel rainwater into the Cooper River. Greeley says now that the work is done, engineers expect the number of closures to be reduced by 75 to 80 percent.
Reported by Mike Denardo, KYW Newsradio
