To the Editor:

I thought your readers would like to know a bit about the financial losses caused by the Carter Road Bridge Construction Project and the additional losses coming this fall because of Governor Christie’s work stoppage order of several weeks ago that has delayed the completion of the bridge for months.

I can tell you that all the farming/nursery endeavors that make our community here in Lawrenceville so special have been negatively impacted this summer. Cherry Grove Farm has lost thousands in revenue so far this year because of the bridge that cuts our farm in half severing our lifeline between the fields along Carter and Carson Roads and our main farmstead on Route 206. Our store revenue is down and by the looks of it the fall season will only be worse. Shoppers just cannot get there due to our bridge closing and other stoppages in the Princeton area. My neighbors running small vital businesses producing locally grown foods so important to our shoppers have told me that sales are way off compared to 2015.

Also as troubling are the potential health hazards resulting from the stagnant water pooling up at the bridge construction project. I do know that West Nile Virus mosquitoes incubate in standing water like the festering pool below the bridge. Mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus also breed in similar environments.

These hazards are in addition to all the accidents I have witnessed this summer along the narrow back roads caused by cars driving too fast on roads that do not have shoulders and should not be used as detours.

Maybe, Brian Hughes, our county executive, can save the day and get the job done. I’m not holding my breath.

Oliver Hamill

Cherry Grove Farm, General Manager/owner