N.J. Turnpike widening leaves Lawnside with questions about Underground Railroad museum

Widening the New Jersey Turnpike between Exits 1 and 4 will upgrade a section of the highway largely unchanged since it opened on Nov. 5, 1951.

But the $2 billion project, slated to begin next year, also will bring southbound traffic 12 feet closer to the Peter Mott House, a museum that’s a centerpiece in the historically Black borough of Lawnside in Camden County.

The Mott House, once home to a free Black abolitionist and Underground Railroad conductor, is about 120 feet from the existing turnpike.

The added lane “is also going to be closer to people’s homes,” said Linda Shockley, president of the Lawnside Historical Society.

“We don’t really know what their [the New Jersey Turnpike Authority] plan is,” she said. “They have what they call public ‘meetings,’ but we call them public ‘tellings,’ because they tell us what they’re going to do.”

The Turnpike Authority has scheduled a public hearing focused on one component of the widening project at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Lawnside Borough Hall.

After discussion of the proposal to build a U-turn restricted to official vehicles near Essex Avenue, there should be time available to discuss the overall project, said Matthew Rao, of AECOM, the infrastructure firm doing the engineering work.

“We’ve got good news,” Rao, the project manager, said during an interview Friday. “We believe Lawnside will qualify for noise barriers [along sections of the turnpike] including at the Peter Mott House,” he said.

The firm also expects to conduct vibration monitoring at the Mott House before and after construction.

“We don’t anticipate any problems” to arise from the work …[but] this is a historically significant property,” Rao said.

Rao said 10 meetings have been held so far with Lawnside residents and officials. The authority makes robust efforts to answer questions and keep communities informed while also adhering to public notification requirements, said turnpike officials.

Shockley said the news was “encouraging,” but “there needs to be information in greater detail, shared widely with the entire community.”

The project will include replacing 55 bridges and overpasses along the nearly 37-mile stretch of the turnpike between Exit 4 in Mount Laurel and Exit 1 in Pennsville Township. A total of 18 municipalities, as well as state, county, and local roads in Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, and Salem Counties will be impacted as well — including Warwick Road in Lawnside.

Construction is expected to last into the early 2030s.

“The construction is going to be a hot mess,” said Kia Jones, a retiree who lives on Gloucester Avenue across from the Mott House. “The noise level from the construction and the traffic also is a concern in the community.”

The Mott House “is a museum that does tours and education programs, so that we can know our history,” she said. “But the noise from the turnpike already makes it difficult for visitors and students to hear.”

State Assemblyman Bill Moen (D., Camden) has worked with Lawnside officials about traffic noise and emergency vehicle access during the construction. And he has other turnpike concerns as well.

“Since the 1990s, there have been efforts to advocate for connecting the turnpike to Route 42,” he said. Drivers bound for Philadelphia or Atlantic City must exit the turnpike and use local roads to gain access to Atlantic City Expressway and the Walt Whitman Bridge.

“We’re still having conversations” about building such a connection from Exit 3 in Bellmawr, Moen said.

Sam Donelson a program manager with AECOM, said the congestion at Exit 3 and the Black Horse Pike is being looked at.

“But there’s a lot of analysis to go and It’s a little premature to [say] what those congestion relief opportunities might be,” he said.

» READ MORE: Bellmawr’s Exit 3 is already a traffic nightmare for residents. Will a turnpike expansion make it worse — or fix it?