We, the undersigned, of communities adjoining the Garden State Parkway, make a formal request of our grievances. We require a sound barrier wall constructed to alleviate the following issues.
As a result of the destruction of an uncounted number of trees along the New Jersey Garden State Parkway that once served as a natural noise barrier, the noise level is excessively loud and unacceptable. These major construction projects, coined as safety projects, have had devastating impacts upon on our communities. Our homes, which are our major investment in our future, are losing their value as a result of the encroachment of highway into our neighborhoods. The increased levels of vehicle exhaust are contributing to poor air quality and serious health issues. The extreme noise levels are a major factor in sleep deprivation for adults and children alike and have severely diminished how we function during the day. The depleted and now-sparse trees make us extremely vulnerable to errant vehicles that can now crash into our communities. The clear-cutting of trees in the hundred-foot center median puts drivers at risk of glare from oncoming vehicles, which further puts these same communities in danger. This is a severe loss in quality of life we will not tolerate and for which we require redress of our grievances.
Why is this important?
We are angry at the hubris of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and the misery they have wrought on the communities that live along the NJ Garden State Parkway. This huge construction project they are conducting coined as a "Safety Project" has destroyed hundreds of trees exposing communities to the nonstop heavy traffic that travels the Parkway. This has exposed the adjacent communities to excessive levels of noise and fumes that endangers their health, destroys their sleep, the value of their homes, and their very quality of life.
