Route 605 plans reach a dead end

Sparta - There is good news for some West Brookfield residents, who were concerned that a proposed expansion of Route 605 would put an off ramp in their back yard. Sussex County has determined that the cost of the project is too high to warrant its implementation. At a recent meeting with county and state transportation engineers, Byram Town Councilman Earl Riley was told the project reached a dead end. “The county has said it is highly improbable that it will ever be built,” said Riley. “It is not feasible to build it for $68 million.” The county had been studying the possibility of expanding Route 605, a county road that connects Sparta and Stanhope, bypassing the congested Route 206. The proposal called for the off-ramp to be put directly over both lanes of Route 206 ending just 400 feet south of Acorn Street. The county instead will focus on several other projects to relieve road congestion including a realignment of Route 23 in Sussex Borough and the addition of a center turning lane on Route 23 from the West Milford-Hardyston Line over Hamburg Mountain.