HARRISON — Harrison business owner Grace Westin was adamant Monday in praising Gloucester County's recent roadway improvements.

The 1-week-old traffic patterns of the first phase of Route 322 construction flowed by her wallpaper store at Route 322 and Barnsboro Road. Work done for the recently completed phase one cost $1.2 million, said county Freeholder-Director Stephen M. Sweeney.

At that intersection, where part of the county's Route 322 project has reduced the convergence of five, two-lane roads to four, Westin and other motorists who passed through Monday said things are running smoothly.

"It used to feel like forever, like five to six minutes (waiting for a green light)," Westin said. "Now, four to six cars can get through instead of two."

Westin, who has helped run Mullica Hill Wallpaper Co. for the past 16 years, is one of approximately 27,000 drivers who pass through that area each day, according to county statistics.

Phase one of the county's project included creation of a new jughandle between Route 322 and Lambs Road and a connector road between Harrisonville and Richwood roads. It also involved widening Route 322 at its intersections with Lambs Road and Barnsboro Road.

The county is seeking bids for the second phase of Route 322 improvements in Harrison, according to Freeholder Deputy Director Robert M. Damminger. That work is to start in August, Damminger said, and will widen Route 322 to five lanes, two in each direction with a center turn lane. The state's Route 322 bypass construction, also an element of the project, is in final engineering and permitting stage and should begin next year.

Officials said such road work is overdue for that stretch of Route 322, which experiences high volumes of traffic and car crashes.

Damminger said there have been 125 crashes reported in the area in the past three years.

So far, there have been no accidents, according to township police Sgt. Rich Malinoski, who said the traffic is moving a lot better.

Malinoski said the traffic signals at the intersections of Route 322 with Lambs Road and Barnsboro Road are finally synchronized to provide about two minutes of green light and about 40 seconds of red light for traffic on Route 322.

Reach Jeremy Rosen at (856) 486-2456 or jrosen@camden.gannett.com