Bellmawr I-295 Wall Collapse: New Proposal May Help Prevent Future 'Malfunction'

BELLMAWR, NJ — The exact reason for why a section of a wall in the ongoing Interstate 295/Interstate 76/State Route 42 construction project in Bellmawr collapsed last year still has yet to be released.

No one was hurt when pieces of the wall gave way last March 25. However, the partial collapse added another layer of frustration to a nearly decade-long construction project at the heavily-traveled artery.

U.S. Representative Donald Norcross, whose district includes the area where the wall is, referred to Interstate 295/Interstate 76/State Route 42 as "malfunction junction" during a recent Camden County Town Hall meeting.

The NJ Department of Transportation is likely going to cite groundwater and rainfall as a "major contributing factor" to the collapse, said State Assembly Member David F. Moen, Jr., whose district also encompasses the area where the wall is.

Therefore, he began to wonder: "What groundwater tests were they using?"

The answer suggested that a groundwater test from about 8 to 10 years ago may have been used as part of the approval for the project where the wall collapse occurred, said Moen.

That seemed far too long, Moen continued, prompting him to draft legislation that would require a shorter timeframe between the last groundwater test and the start of a construction project that involves public property.

"These tests would have to be valid or completed within a certain time period of when [the company] expects to begin the project," he said.

The exact period of time was still being decided at the time of this story's posting, but Moen told Patch he hopes to make it significantly shorter than the 8 to 10 years that may have been the timeframe of the last test used for assisting workers at the site of the wall collapse.

"It is important for us to reflect on what we're learning from that [incident] to be sure that we're not making the same mistakes," he said.

A New Jersey Department of Transportation spokesperson told nj.com that a release date for the report that describes what caused the collapse, who was responsible for it and how it will be fixed is "expected to be made soon."

Even if it turns out that groundwater had nothing to do with the partial wall collapse, there is another looming reason his proposed bill should become law, Moen said.

"Climate change and other issues are coming in our direction," he said during the recent Camden County town hall meeting. "We need to be mindful of that and follow as we continue to invest state dollars and federal dollars into the larger projects."