Edelman Fossil Park and Mantua Boulevard Extension Update

While an opening date has not been set yet, the Edelman Fossil Park & Museum in Mantua NJ still looks to open in 2024.  The associated Mantua Boulevard Roadway Extension project appears complete with the new entrance road branching off of the existing traffic light intersection at Woodbury-Glassboro Road.

If you’re unfamiliar with the full project, a marl quarry located behind the Lowes Home Improvement Center in Mantua NJ for many decades has been known as a hotbed for dinosaur fossils.

In many ways this fossil-ladened property was also a big secret, where it seems only quarry workers and locals knew of the property and were finding dinosaur fossils for decades… just taking them home without any scientific research being applied!

The value of the site seemed to slip official notice for 50 years or more until plans were discussed to redevelop the property as a residential space.  Philadelphia area professor Dr Ken Lacovara stepped up to bring awareness to the value of the property as a globally unique fossil resource, stating it was too valuable to lose to development. Those prior plans were stopped.

Persistent efforts by Dr Lacovara and others eventually lead to plans for the creation of a $73 million fossil museum, which has been funded partially by a $25+ Million Dollar donation by the Edelman family. The fossil park and museum will be managed as part of Rowan University.

The Edelman Fossil Park will truly be a world class experience, pulling in visitors from around the globe… all into South Jersey’s Mantua Township!

To support the 100s of thousands of expected yearly visitors, Gloucester County initiated an almost $10 million Mantua Boulevard Extension project which will serve as the main entranceway into the large fossil museum facility.

With the new roadway extension mostly completed, commuters at the busy traffic signal intersection are seeing the new (blocked off) roadway heading off into the woods… and wondering what it is for!

42Freeway has covered the Fossil Park (July 2022) as well as the start of the Mantua Boulevard extension (Feb 2023), but for the last 18 months I’ve been mostly quiet on the project as construction progressed in the woods behind the home improvement center.

That being said, back in March the awesome Edelman Museum team invited me in for a full tour of the property as well as inside the under construction museum!

While interior photos were not permitted at the time, I did take exterior drone images and I share some of them here.

Mantua Boulevard Extension

As mentioned the Mantua Boulevard Extension forms the fourth leg of the intersection where the Mantua Boulevard connects to Woodbury-Glassboro Road. This intersection sits between the Lowes and Target shopping centers…  and the Timberline Center is also at the intersection.

For the extension roadway project, it actually is more complex than you would think because where the roadway needed to be developed, the land dropped down from the adjacent roadway. Additionally there are a few small flowing waterways which needed to be accounted for and supported in the project design.

The extension is effectively an elevated roadway supported by raised earth and retaining walls.

From the traffic light intersection the roadway extends back into the woods and then bends to the right into the parking area of the Edelman Fossil Park.

The new roadway supports traffic going in and out of the museum’s parking area to Woodbury-Glassboro Road. The new raised roadway also seems to support a paved walking/bicycle path.

The roadway’s design should make for a dramatic entrance for visitors driving in to visit the museum, as you likely won’t see the building through the trees…  until several hundred feet down you make that right bend and the museum becomes fully visible on a raised hill to the left.

While I haven’t seen an announcement on the completion of the roadway, it does appear to be completely finished with no construction trucks in sight.  For my visit last week I could see that only a car was parked in the roadway with 2 gentlemen conversing.

Edelman Fossil Park

Back in July of 2022 I first wrote about the Edelman Fossil Park which at the time was expected to open in the Spring of 2024.

There have been some construction and implementation delays.  While an official opening date has not been stated, officials are saying they are in the home stretch towards the opening. Some reports say the target is for this Fall (of 2024).

The core museum property is somewhat laid out like a “Figure 8″…  one of the circles of that Figure 8 is a former quarry pit that is now a lake.  The other circle is a deep quarry fossil pit where visitors will be able to dig for their own fossil. Sitting between those two circles is the new Edelman Fossil Museum building.

The museum is a 2-story all-new construction building which has been designed to take advantage of the amazing views of both the lake and the quarry.

An exterior patio space offers awesome views down into what will be the active archaeological fossil quarry dig site.

Across to the other of that fossil quarry is a separate enclosure space at the quarry rim where museum staff will conduct orientations and education sessions prior to visitors entering into the quarry dig pit.

As mentioned I was given a tour of the entire museum facility thanks to the amazing Edelman museum staff.

The timing of my March visit found the museum structurally complete with massive concrete poured columns holding everything together. At the time (March) none of the interior work had started and there was no signs of museum displays in place then.

But I get to walk through the individual museum display rooms on both floors, as the team described to me what was going to be in each area.

A signature aspect of the museum will be recreated life-size depictions of dinosaurs that roamed the area 66,000,000 years ago!

The lower level will feature a virtual reality room where visitors will be transported back 65,000,000 years into a free roaming walk where amidst the dense flora and experience what it would be like to live in the age of dinosaurs.

The quarry dig aspect is likely the only experience you’ll find in the world. Already over 100,000 fossils representing more than 100 species have been unearthed… and as a Fossil Park visitor you will get your chance to dig up a 66 million year old fossil!

I keep in touch with the staff at the Edelman Fossil Park and museum, and I look forward to being one of the first people to experience the excitement of the Park and Museum when they open hopefully later this fall…and to share that experience with South Jersey!

Links and Location

Edelman Fossil Park (Under development and closed to the public)
Woodbury-Glassboro Road
Mantua NJ

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