OCEAN COUNTY – A new Park-N-Ride will be built at Interchange 58 of the Garden State Parkway, the Board of Chosen Freeholders announced.
The Board plans to award a $421,212 contract to Mathis Construction Co. of Little Egg Harbor Township, at its Dec. 5 meeting. Work is expected to begin in the spring of 2019.
“This new facility will service our commuters living in the southern area of Ocean County,” said Ocean County Freeholder John P. Kelly, liaison to the Ocean County Engineering Department. “We have been working on this for some time and I am pleased that we are now ready to award a contract and get the work under way.”
The New Jersey Turnpike Authority should reimburse the county for the project.
“This new Park-N-Ride will provide a designated paved and illuminated parking area which will bring major improvements for safety and convenience for commuters in the southern area of the County especially Little Egg Harbor Township and around the Route 539 corridor,” Kelly, who serves as Director of Law and Public Safety, said. “The need for such a facility at this location is easily apparent.
“Commuters currently park on any available cleared roadside area near the interchange,” Kelly said. “In the absence of any other alternative, commuters, in some instances, have left their vehicles in a poorly lit dirt lot off Route 539. We will now provide them with a new Park-N-Ride facility.”
Forty-nine paved parking stalls will be built. A bus loading and unloading area will be provided in anticipation of future bus service to this location.
“Ocean County is a commuter county,” Ocean County Freeholder Director Gerry P. Little said. “The County has been working in partnership with the state’s 9th Legislative District leaders and the New Jersey Turnpike Authority to advance this project. We are very pleased that it’s moving forward.”
The facility will ultimately promote carpooling.
Stormwater upgrades and a mostly maintenance-free lighting system are included in the project plans.
“There has been a demonstrated need in this area for a park and ride for a long time,” Kelly said. “This will be tremendously safer for people to leave their cars there and out of harm’s way.
“This is an important regional transportation concept that we are advancing,” Kelly said. “We look forward to the day it is complete.”
