Drivers pass beneath craggy cliffs and rough rock faces on their way through the Delaware Water Gap on I-80. But one New Jersey township fears a "'Jurassic Park'-style" fence proposed by the state transportation department will ruin one of the state's most scenic views.
The approximately half-mile-long, $50-million-plus fence is being designed to guard against potential rockfalls in Knowlton and Hardwick townships in northern Warren County, about a mile from the bridge connecting Pennsylvania and New Jersey and within the 70,000-acre Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.
The Knowlton Township government recently announced its opposition to the NJDOT project and listed its grievances, including the cost, location and impacts. Hardwick Mayor Kevin Duffy said his township's committee has not yet developed its stance.
"The project is a massive waste of taxpayer money and will ruin the appearance of the Delaware Water Gap. ... This fence will be an eyesore through one of the natural wonders of the United States," Knowlton Mayor Adele Starrs said in an email. "I can't imagine that the flood of residents who vacate NYC and New Jersey cities every weekend to hike at the gap and enjoy our natural scenery are aware that their weekend getaway is about to be ruined."
Climbers scale Mt. Tammany at the Delaware Water Gap, 300 feet above Interstate 80 and the Delaware River in Hardwick Township.
The DOT did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the project. However, a 2011 department report posted on Knowlton's website justified the fence's construction by citing specific instances of crashes and closures from fallen rock over the previous five or six years.
Knowlton's resolutions say the fence is estimated to cost between $55 million and $58 million, with construction expected to begin in 2020 and last up to two years, periodically closing lanes on the highway. That could be a problem, the mayor said, not only for commuters but for emergency vehicles trying to get to the nearest hospital, which is in Pennsylvania.
In one resolution, the township argues that "the millions of dollars appropriated for this non-essential project could be better directed toward New Jersey's decaying roads and bridges."
A rending on the left by NJDOT shows what rockfall prevention methods may look like along I-80 in the Delaware Water Gap. On the right shows current conditions on one slope.
Fences are a sore subject for officials in Knowlton: The township in 2013 argued that another large rockfall fence installed by the DOT on Route 46 was unnecessary.
That was the one the mayor likened to the electric barriers on dinosaur pens in the 1993 Steven Spielberg movie. She said the I-80 fence will be in the same style as on 46: a 60-foot metal fence on a stepped pyramid made of concrete, rather than mesh seen elsewhere on I-80.
"Knowlton Township objected to the Route 46 fence that was erected against our wishes, and it appears that the NJDOT is proceeding with its plans for this Route 80 fence against the wishes of both Knowlton Township and the National Park Service," the mayor said.
The park service issued a statement Wednesday saying that it is working with the DOT and has expressed concerns about the project's impact on the scenery, wildlife and plants, but did not say it was opposed to the fence outright.
Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.