Perth Amboy evening news., 1924-11-26

Congestion of Route 4 between
Perth Amboy and iKeYport has
made 1t imperative that relief
route be established. Major w. G.
Sloan. state highway engineer. out
lined a plan whereby a new road
would branch off the present brick
road at Morgan and go across the
Cheeseouake meadows to Mechanics
vile. Keyport. The estimated cost
cs this work would be S1,7OO,OOO.
The road would be about eight and
one-half miles long. an average OF
100000 a mile Such a route would
hecessitate widening the roads IN
South Amboy at a cost of about
$4,000, according to Engineer
Booz's figures which he yesterday
turned over to the commission to-
gether with figures showing the cost
of the relief route presented to him
and favored by the people of Middle
sex county.
According to the figures presented
by Engineer Booz. a relief route 22.36
miles in length could be constructed
from the South Anboy end of the
state bridge to l4atontown, which
would not touch Keyport and go
around South Amboy, thus relieving
congestion in those places, for ST.
534,500 which is almost 100000 less
than it would cost to build the S.36
miles of road across Cheesequake
Creek. as proposed by the state.
The highway commission declared
that such a route would be impos-
sible as the statute under which the
commission works makes it essential
that both South 'Amboy and Keyport
be touched. Spokesman for the dele
cations present argued that If such
is the case, it would pay to wait until
the necessary legislation is put
through at the next session of the
legislature to permit of the new
route being laid out so that Keyport
is not served. The highway commits
sion pointed out that 1t is a matter
OF speculation whether or not the
legislature would pass a measure
changing the statute under which
they work and members told of the
delay which would be caused while
waiting for such authorization.
The delay, Engineer Booz declared,
would not be sufficient to have any
great effect on the work as the route
favored by the Middlesex county del
egation could be completed, even
with this delay, long before the short
road could be constructed across the
mGaQOWS. ne COllSlIuClloH VI lAS
road across the Cheesequake mead
ows would take five years to COM
plete according to information given
him by engineers in the State High
way Department, Booz said. Major
Sloan took exception to this state
ment, declaring that 1t would take
only two years to build the road but
that 1t would be two years longer 1t
had settled sufficiently to permit of
the permanent paving being laid.
Engineer Booz then declared that
would be equivalent to four years
before a good road had been finish
ed.
The route favored by the Middle
sex county residents would go di-
rectly out Bridge street at South
Amboy, instead of following the
PENNSYLVANIA right of way, cut across
a wooded section in Sayreville town
shin. over the Parlin road and the
railroad tracks to Roses Corner.
The Cheesequake road would then be
followed to Browns garage and
thence over the White-Brown's road
to Ten Eyck's hill connection being
made with the old Bridge-Matawan
road, and thence running TO freneau'
Al this point traffic would be divert
cd IL being on the main road to
lrreehold. Lakewood and Atlantic
City while a left turn towards Mat
avian will connect with the Asbury
PARK road via Holmdel. Lincroft,
linton Falls and Eatontown. This
route could be built at a cost much
less than the proposed state route,
but the highway commission OBJECT
ed ON the grounds that it did not
touch Keyport.
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