Frustrated Cherry Hill residents bemoan disruptive makeover of Route 70

Ponzio’s Nick Fifis is hardly the only person in Cherry Hill with questions about the reconstruction of Route 70.

“People are are constantly asking me, ‘When is it going to end?’” he said from the diner, bakery, and bar his family has owned since the 1960s on Route 70 at Brace Road.

“There doesn’t seem to be anyone working in some of the areas where [barriers] are up,” Fifis said. “You wonder why they don’t take those [barriers] away.”

Construction on the $155.1 million to upgrade or replace utilities, drainage systems, signals, sidewalks, pavement, and intersections began in 2021. Work should be finished by spring 2026, said a N.J. Department of Transportation spokesperson.

Most of the 8.8-mile project area is within Cherry Hill Township. Route 70 carries 80,500 vehicles a day. Fifis said he’s impressed that the DOT and the contractors have managed to keep two lanes open in each directions during construction.

But the temporary lanes, detours, sudden side street closures, and other inconveniences led at least one small business to move out of the township. Others are moving within Cherry Hill. And another is closing altogether.

Bob and Kathy Deniken said the pending loss of a parking area in front of their Unique Interiors furniture store has forced them to retire.

The business they’ve operated for nearly 40 years will close at the end of March. They’ve already sold the building, which is on the westbound side of Route 70 near Haddonfield Road.

“I love what I do, but little guys like me can’t fight City Hall,” said Bob Deniken.

The DOT’s suggestion that customers could use a small parking area in the rear of his building was impractical, given that the lot is used for unloading furniture shipments, as well as employee parking, he said.

“It’s like family here, and the same thing goes for the customers,” said interior designer ChaDerria Bratcher, 24. ”I’ve developed a big following here.”

Other businesses in the Erlton section of the township, where several commercial strips were built close to the highway in the 1950s or earlier, also expect to see new curbs and sidewalks render their front parking areas unusable.

“That curb is going to put me out of business,” said Kevin King, proprietor of Framers’ Workroom NJ. Like Unique Interiors, King’s shop is on westbound 70 in Erlton.

Once the curb and sidewalk are installed, delivery trucks will have to find more distant locations, and some customers may choose to shop elsewhere, he said.

Cherry Hill Mayor David Fleisher said the township “continues to express our concerns about [progress] and the continued challenges to small businesses and to local residents.”

“We also want to have a serious conversation about upgrading the appearance of Route 70 when the project is done,” said the mayor.

Route 70 varies from four to six and in one stretch, eight lanes. It has center medians in some places, and most have been retained will be replanted with “900 deciduous shrubs to replace those” uprooted during construction, the DOT spokesperson said.

“The [landscaping] plan will be focused on replacing trees between the sidewalk and road with more appropriate species ... a mixture of primarily native deciduous and evergreen trees,” said the spokesperson, adding that 236 trees will be planted.

“People have been avoiding 70 for the last three years,” said Fifis, adding that he’ll be grateful once the job is done. “But it’s my understanding that 70 is going to be pretty much the same road that it was before they ripped everything out.”

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