By SUZANNE MARINO
Staff Writer

NORTHFIELD – On the cusp where the city converges with Linwood and Egg Harbor Township, a project that has been in the talking stage for more than a decade is finally coming together.

At the May 6 meeting of the Northfield City Council, Councilman Steve Vain and City Engineer Matt Doran unveiled a design plan that will realign where Cedarbridge Road meets Zion Road.

“The plan we have designed will take the intersection of Zion Road and Cedarbridge Road and do away with the long sweeping curve and create a 90 degree angle that will bring it up to current traffic standards,” Doran said.

Right now, just after motorists cross the wooden bridge heading east on Zion from Egg Harbor Township to Northfield, they come to the intersection with Burroughs Avenue in Linwood, followed immediately by Cedarbridge Road in Northfield.

Cars looking to pull out from either Burroughs or Cedarbridge, which intersect with Zion in a sharp V,  need to inch up to the intersection and then look way back over their shoulder as well as to their sharp right and sharp left before entering the roadway, and must proceed with extreme caution.

The realignment is designed to improve safety and visibility at Cedarbridge.

“Now they will just look left, look right, and proceed like most intersections. The new design is in keeping with current design standards for an intersection,” said Doran.

The estimated cost of the project is about $145,000, he said.

“There has been no agreement on what the county will pay and what Northfield will contribute to cover the cost of the project or whether the cost will be shared 50-50 or 60-40,” Doran said.

Vain said he has been working on the proposal for more than a year.

“I am really happy that it is finally coming together. We had tried some other ideas short of realigning the intersection,” he said at the meeting.

“This project has been kicking around for over 10 years. Before it was Linwood, Northfield and Atlantic County working on a plan. Linwood was not ready to move on a plan at this time to tie Burroughs Avenue into the realignment, so we just moved ahead, only Northfield and the county,” said Vain. “They liked the plan and said they think it will work and we’re willing to jump on board.”

“We had tried moving the speed limit sign close to the end of Cedarbridge so they would know as soon as they came off of Zion, where the speed limit is 35, to Cedarbridge, where the speed limit is 25, but it did not seem to help much. With no sidewalk on Cedarbridge and because it is a main walkway for kids coming to school, we want to make sure it is safe for our children,” said Vain.

The county has not introduced a resolution approving the realignment, but Doran said he was told the county is talking about doing the project sometime in 2008.