Marlton Circle

The Marlton Circle was a traffic circle in the Marlton section of Evesham Township, New Jersey, located at the intersection of Route 70 and Route 73. The highways connecting through the circle provided access to drivers navigating to and between the New Jersey Turnpike, the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge and points on the Jersey Shore.

History

For years after the construction of the one-lane Marlton Circle in the 1940s, the area was a sparsely populated farming town. While the roads in the area had long been lightly traveled, the population of Evesham Township had doubled since the 1970s and the increased housing and commercial density placed greater traffic stress on the Marlton Circle. In the summer of 1974, the circle was modified when Route 73 was cut through and traffic signals were installed. Congestion has plagued this intersection for years, routinely backing up as far as a mile on summer afternoons. A motorist described the interchange as being like an airport in a resident neighborhood, saying it's "not a traffic circle, it's a non-traffic circle".

A plan to eliminate the circle was announced in 2002 as part of a $26 million project that would address congestion at the circle, which was at the time "the third most dangerous intersection in the state". By 2008, plans to eliminate the circle, described by The Philadelphia Inquirer as "one of the most dangerous intersections in South Jersey", and replace it with an overpass over Route 70 were continuing, a task made more difficult by the daily traffic volume of 90,000 vehicles passing through the circle. Construction broke ground on April 8, 2009.