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Attachments & Parts Section
Third Lane of AC Expressway to Fix Notorious Bottleneck
The South Jersey Transportation Authority (SJTA) is planning to widen a two lane, 13-mi. section of the Atlantic City Expressway (ACE) by adding a third lane in both directions along the center median.
Currently in its preliminary design phase, the project will ease traffic backups along a route infamous for its bottlenecks, authority officials said.
The $180 million ACE project is slated to have an official groundbreaking in 2024.
The projected third lane is to be constructed in both directions along the 44-mi.-long toll road’s final two-lane section, announced Stephen F. Dougherty, the executive director of SJTA.
The road work will stretch northwest from mile marker 31 in Winslow Township to the New Jersey Highway 42 terminus in Gloucester Township in Camden County. The expressway serves six South Jersey counties and links the Garden State Parkway and Philadelphia with Atlantic City and the Jersey Shore.
The current two-lane section of the ACE carries 55,000 vehicles a day and “considerably more” during the summer, especially on weekends, Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti, commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) and chairperson of the SJTA board told NJ.com.
She added that a safety problem exists on this section of the expressway when a crash or incident occurs. When one involves a tractor-trailer, and brings traffic to a standstill, travelers are often left waiting for hours.
Planners Conscious of
Environmental Concerns
“We are committed to a low impact project,” Dougherty said of the plan to build along the center median and avoid wetlands alongside the two-lane section of the highway south of N.J. 42.
The SJTA hopes the highway’s design will answer environmental objections to the project that were raised in May 2020 when a $500 million capital plan that included the widening project was approved. It is funded by a 37 percent toll increase that took effect in September 2020.
Still, ACE’s designers faced a challenge in minimizing the environmental impact of the extra lane of traffic, said Stephen Mazur, SJTA’s chief engineer.
“We knew before we started [that there are] wetlands on either side of the highway and there are wildlife and endangered species habitats,” he commented to NJ.com, but added he is confident that having both new lanes on the median will minimize tree clearing and the effects on nearby wetlands. Only two bridges on the expressway will need to be replaced to provide enough clearance for the added lanes, Mazur said. SJTA is working with the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and local officials on obtaining permits and addressing any public concerns, he said. A hearing about the project and open to the public will be held, according to Mazur, although a date has not yet been announced.
Once the first shovels hit dirt on the ACE lane expansion, he said construction will last roughly two years.
“It’s a pretty aggressive schedule,” Mazur explained.
The Atlantic City Expressway was first opened in 1964, before being widened from N.J. 73 east to Atlantic City in the 1980s. Two more road expansions followed: One going west from the famed beach community, and, later, a third from the Garden State Parkway to N.J. 73.
“Everyone knows it is the right thing to do. The back-ups start where the third lane stops.” Donald Norcross U.S. Representative
Pages 35-41S E C T I O NAttachments & Par ts
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Werk-Brau Celebrates 75 Years With Open House
Visitors were able to tour the more than 500,000-sq.-ft. manufacturing campus complex, see displays of Werk-Brau products and the equipment they are used with, and enjoy barbecue, refreshments, ice-cream, prize drawings and more. Additional activities for younger visitors included bounce-houses, pony rides and a train ride.
Werk-Brau Co. Inc., a manufacturer of buckets and attachments for excavators and loaders, celebrated its 75th anniversary with an open house for employees and their families, retirees, customers, suppliers and colleagues, and the community on Aug. 27.
Visitors were able to tour the more than 500,000 sq. ft. manufacturing campus complex, see displays of Werk-Brau products and the equipment they are used with, and enjoy barbecue, refreshments, ice-cream, prize drawings and more. Additional activities for younger visitors included bouncehouses, pony rides and a train ride. Nearly 1,000 people attended the event, which ran from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“We’re humbled and thankful that so many people chose to celebrate with us,” said Jon Ballinger, Werk-Brau president. “People make this company what it is, and we’ve been blessed with wonderful, dedicated employees over the years. It was great to host not only our current employees and their families, but many retirees and their families, as well as those within the Findlay community.”
The core vision upon which Werk-Brau was founded still drives them today, “safely provide excellence in quality, design and delivery of products and services which exceed our customers’ expectations.” It has grown from a single blacksmith shop to numerous North American locations with 500,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing space and more than 500 employees. It maintains dealer direct partnerships with more than 2,000 North American heavy equipment dealers from its Findlay, Ohio, headquarters.
One aspect of the business that has changed dramatically is technology, which is helping customers to be more efficient, productive and safe on their job sites. Werk-Brau supplies hydraulic D-LOCK couplers, tilt-rotator couplers, hydraulic thumbs and a wide range of other specialty tools and construction attachments to assist in these efforts.
Technology also plays a much larger role in heavy equipment manufacturing than it did seven decades ago. Werk-Brau combines modern manufacturing technology such as robotics and high-definition plasma cutting, together with old-world craftsmanship into each bucket, thumb, coupler and attachment it manufactures. Its goals today are the same as they were when Duke Werkheiser and Dutch Brautigam opened their blacksmith shop in 1947, to provide excellence in customer service and exceed customer expectations.
Werk-Brau manufactures a complete line of OEM and replacement attachments for excavators, mini excavators, backhoes, mini and full-size loaders, and crawler loaders.
For more information, call 800/537-9561 or visit www.Werk-Brau.com.
