BELLMAWR -- Getting from one place to another is hard enough in New Jersey, one of the most densely populated states in the nation with legendary congested traffic. Remember Bridgegate?
Getting from one place to another when the road sign is wrong can add a Cirque du Soleil quality to a car ride, especially for out-of-town visitors.
For years, Bellmawr, a Camden County borough near Philadelphia , threw drivers for a loop. A sign directing motorists to Mount Ephraim had the "a" and "i" transposed, as in Mt. Ephriam. Even more confusing, two signs just off of Route 42, the busy North-South Freeway to Atlantic City and other shore points, misidentified County Rt. 753, Creek Road, as being in Gloucester County instead of Camden County.
Then, on Thursday, a day after NJ Advance Media inquired about the bad signs, the "Mt. Ephriam" sign -- on Browning Road near the intersection with the Black Horse Pike, Route 168 -- was replaced with one with the correct spelling. And later this week, the other two signs will be replaced as well, said Daniel Triana, a spokesman for NJDOT.
Josh Tregear, the borough administrator, said officials first noticed the errors "two or three years ago," and they had been trying to get it fixed.
"Obviously, the borough would like to see it corrected as many people mistakenly attribute (the errors) to the Bellmawr Highway Department," Tregear said in an email last week. Drivers, he said, don't know the bad signs were made by the state Department of Transportation.
It's not clear how the fixes were made so quickly and Triana said he needed more time to research how the errors occurred and who was responsible.
A similar incident was reported last month near Parsippany. The sign, located on Route 202 N./Littleton Road, south of the Route 80 overpass, directing motorists to "Lk Parisppany" via Frontage Road, was installed earlier this year, according to Department of Transportation spokesman Stephen Schapiro.
In the case of the Morris County snafu, the typo was brought to the DOT's attention in August and a replacement sign was requested, Schapiro said.
Bill Duhart may be reached at bduhart@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @bduhart. Find NJ.com on Facebook.