Route 206 Cat Swamp Hill boondoggle

To the Editor: I’ve watched for the past two years as NJ-DOT has taken the Cat Swamp Mountain section of 206 and blasted it, jackhammered it, chiseled it, pounded it, chain-sawed, bulldozed and back-hoed it. They’ve widened it to over three times its original footprint, in the process destroying over six acres of trees and a beautiful spring that would turn into a wonderful mini-waterfall during heavy rains. I’ve sat in traffic for two years as lanes were changed, boulders were loaded and explosives were detonated. Over $11 million dollars are estimated to be spent before they are done. I thought for all that sacrifice we would at least get two lanes going down the hill as well as up. Maybe ease up the traffic on a weekday morning or weekend afternoon just a little. But for all that destruction and money we get the same thing we had before, only with shoulders wider than I have seen on any interstate. I understand the original lanes were a little narrow but you could fit 8 of those lanes in the space they’ve carved out. No matter, the palms were greased, the gears were turned, the contractors were paid. Some project manager had his little project completed and gets a star by his name and the continuing budget for incredibly over-priced projects, with little or no public return, is justified. I say the money would have been better spent fixing the only bottleneck in all of Rt. 206 - the nightmare that is Acorn-Lackawanna. But Byram wants a Town Square right in the middle of one of New Jersey’s main arteries and if this last project is any measure, NJ-DOT wants to spend $100 million of our taxpayer money to take a two-way single lane road and turn it into a really, really, really wide two-way single lane road. Curt Terry Andover