Today’s Weather Mess Should Start a Conversation About How South Jersey Handles Storms
Every time a major storm rolls through South Jersey, we go through the same thing all over again.
Roads flood. Emergency crews scramble. Drivers ignore the warnings. And somewhere along the way, someone ends up stranded. Why? The infrastructure we're relying on to keep people safe was built for a different era.
Today's storm is just the latest reminder.
I'll be blunt: South Jersey lacks enough infrastructure to quickly warn motorists and physically close known flood-prone roads without tying up police and NJDOT personnel.
Electronic highway signs are sparse, and there are no automated (or even manual) gates to close flood-prone roads before drivers make bad decisions.
Other states modernized years ago. For example, outside of Savannah, GA, on Interstate 16, they've installed gates. When a storm comes, someone comes out, they lower the gates, the road is closed, and first responders can concentrate on other things.
In South Jersey, even that simple setup doesn't exist.
Here, NJDOT crews (almost always more than one person) have to sit in big trucks for hours and hours to manually close a highway. That's what happens every time the Black Horse Pike in West Atlantic City closes due to flooding, like it did Friday morning.
Police officers also have to sit in patrol vehicles and block roads. That's a horrible, inefficient use of law enforcement.
Getting back to electronic highway signs, earlier this year, the NJDOT installed a spiffy new sign on the Black Horse Pike in Egg Harbor Township. And after it went up, I made the point that it was facing the wrong way. There was really no need for this sign to alert westbound traffic to problems when it's the eastbound side that closes frequently due to flooding. Much to my surprise, the NJDOT actually flipped the sign around, and it now faces traffic heading toward Atlantic City.
That's all well and good, and a step in the right direction, but that sign went up six months ago. To the best of my knowledge, it's never been used. It would have really come in handy this weekend.
And do signs like that exist on Route 30 between Absecon and Atlantic City, a busy road that closes in big storms? Nope.
Meanwhile, the storms aren't getting smaller.
The combination of coastal geography, low-lying roads, and aging infrastructure makes South Jersey uniquely vulnerable.
The Black Horse Pike floods a lot. The White Horse Pike floods. Routes 47 and 147 flood. Route 9 floods by Holy Spirit High School. Ocean Drive floods. And every time it happens, the response is reactive instead of proactive.
What we need is a serious conversation about smart infrastructure: automated road closures, expanded electronic signs, and enhanced alerting systems. Instead, we have manually placed traffic cones and every town and police department posting what's happening on Facebook.
It's all horribly inefficient.
We're a quarter of the way into the 21st century and, in many cases, we handle storms around here like it's 1986.
First fall storm slams New Jersey
Gallery Credit: Erin Vogt
Chris Coleman is a South Jersey native and has been a cornerstone of the Atlantic City radio market since 1998. He serves as the afternoon on-air personality for WPUR Cat Country 107.3. A five-time President's Circle award winner and Townsquare Media's 2024 Content Creator of the Year, Chris covers news, events, and stories of interest across Southern New Jersey. Story tips: chris.coleman@townsquaremedia.com
