Concerns expressed over Court Circle design
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Several members of the Gloucester County Board of Supervisors expressed concerns last week with the design of the beautification project around Gloucester’s Court Circle, saying that traffic and fire apparatus are having some difficulty maneuvering the roadway around the circle. Here, a school bus travels around the circle with little difficulty. However, larger trucks have had to jump the curb and run over the grass (in the bottom right portion of the photo) with their back wheels in order to make the turn. Photo by Quinton Sheppard.
The issue came up at the Jan. 17 board of supervisors meeting, and led to a pointed discussion between a county staff member and a board member.
Gloucester Point district supervisor Chris Hutson said he had noticed at a planning commission meeting and twice while sitting at the board of supervisors’ meeting that fire trucks have gone around the court circle. He said that it was brought up during the planning commission meeting that some of the trucks have had a hard time making it around the circle without going into the grass.
Ware district supervisor Andy James, a long-time volunteer and former chief of the Gloucester Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department, Inc., followed Hutson’s remarks by saying, "Amen." Hutson then asked Garrey Curry, Gloucester’s director of public works, if cars were having that same problem maneuvering around the circle.
Curry said the county’s consultant did design the work to meet appropriate standards for vehicles to pass through the circle. He also said he worked closely with Gloucester fire chief J.D. Clements, who measured the size of the department’s largest fire truck (Tower One), and Curry said that information was used in the design of the project.
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