Motorists struggle to see oncoming traffic at ramps, circles
A car turn out of Dey Road onto Rt. 130 southbound in Plainsboro as another turns onto Dey Road, where the grass on the southbound side of the intersection is so high that it creates a blind turn from both directions.
April showers may bring May flowers, but this year in New Jersey, winter snowing has prompted a late-spring mowing — of the waist-high grass in highway medians.
In February, an army of state workers toiled to clear away record-breaking amounts of snow to keep drivers safe, then worked during the spring to repair the resulting potholes.
Four months later, after the warmest March, April and May in more than a century, the same workers are rushing to cut grass so high it blocks the view of motorists coming down ramps into rushing traffic.
"In some places you can’t even see the guardrails," said Richard Dalina, a Woodbridge councilman who first complained to the state a month ago over the tall weeds along Route 9.
"We notified the state two weeks ago about the grass and the possible view obstructions," South Brunswick police Sgt. James Ryan said of his department’s reports of grass more than three feet high on Route 130.
Police in other counties said the obtrusive herbage causes a legitimate hazard for drivers trying to merge into traffic.
"If you’re in a regular car, you really have a line-of sight problem," said Washington Police Chief William Cicchetti in Bergen County, where he said there’s a potential for crashes due to the bushy weeds along Route 17 in Paramus.
"In local towns they call out the road department. Towns take responsibility because they understand liability. One accident on a major road and you’re on the hook for a lot," said Cicchetti, who is also president of the New Jersey Police Traffic Safety Officers Association.
The state DOT’s army of 600 workers, who have been filling the more-than-usual number of pot holes left in the aftermath of the record snowfall, are now clearing edges of the highways and the entrance and exit ramps, cutting grass back about 15 feet from the curb lines so drivers can see the traffic.
A driver has to pull out further than allowed in order to see oncoming traffic as tall grass is blocking her view. Photographed at the ramp of intersection southbound of Rt. 17 and Linwood Avenue in Paramus."We are turning our attention from potholes," DOT spokesman Joseph Dee said. "Our crews are moving statewide where there could be an issue of safety and sight lines," he said.
The state plans to eventually cut all the grass, but for now workers will just trim the edges, as they have in parts of Woodbridge and South Brunswick.
"Aesthetics are taking a backseat to safety. The grass has been growing fast," Dee said.
In the Essex County municipality of Fairfield, business administrator Joseph Catenaro said grass along Route 46 is up to a foot high in some places, along with unsightly weeds that need to be trimmed or uprooted.
"We recognize the state’s got budgetary constraints, but it is looking really unkempt," he said.
Municipal officials and police suspect the state’s budget woes have contributed to the problem, but Dee said the DOT has similar staffing as previous years.
The DOT is giving out phone numbers to report hazardously high grass. In Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris, Passaic Sussex, Warren and Union, the DOT number is (973) 770-5170. For Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth Ocean and Somerset counties, the number is (732) 625-4340. Residents in Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties can call (856) 486-6600.
Nic Corbett, a reporter for the New Jersey Local News Service, contributed to this report.
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