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Thursday, November 19, 2009

How about a highway for a front lawn?
Plans to widen Route 322 will put a five-lane road within feet of Marlene and Dewey Gray's front stoop in Richwood, Gloucester County. (April Saul / Staff Photographer)

 

Imagine living in a home for 40 years, and one day waking up to discover that what used to be a two-lane country road was being widened to make way for a five-lane highway that will enable exhaust-belching cars and trucks to speed past your front door.
 
That’s what is happening to Marlene and Dewey Gray, a retired Gloucester County couple who have lived most of their adult lives in a house on Route 322.
 
The Gloucester County Highway Department purchased the Grays’ front yard to make room for the road expansion, but it wouldn’t buy their house.
 
That means the new highway will come within about 12 feet of their front door.
 
Talk about a lawn job.
 
Trucks that already shake the home when they rumble past will create and an even greater noise-and-safety issue for the Grays, who are in their 70s.
 
The county said it declined to purchase the Grays’ home because it didn’t need the extra land and wanted to keep a lid on the cost.
 
Only a brain-dead bureaucratic agency could come up with such a heartless decision.
 
Taxpayers want government to be good stewards of their money. But the road project is costing $10 million. How much more would the purchase of the Grays’ home add to the overall price?
 
By purchasing only the front yard, the county has created a real hardship for the Grays, who say they would be willing to move to make way for the road.
 
Beyond the safety-and-noise issue, the highway expansion may very well reduce the value of their home and make it difficult to sell.
 
A commercial developer had some interest in purchasing the property, but that went away as the economy slowed. There is no guarantee of when, or if, that interest will reemerge.
 
Regardless, the county owes it to the Grays — who have been paying property taxes on the land for 40 years — to treat them with some dignity and respect.
 
Building a five-lane highway that runs within a few feet of a homeowner’s front door isn’t the type of progress that anyone should expect.
Posted by Inquirer Editorial Board @ 3:00 AM  Permalink | 1 comment
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 8:40 AM, 11/19/2009
    Maybe one of the members of the highway dept would be willing to swap houses with these folks, since it's been determined the project will not create a hardship. John at sidinthecity.com
    — pangia


1 comments
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