T.F. council mulls projects for DOT funding

T.F. council mulls projects for DOT funding
Roadwork, sidewalks among options listed
BY KENNY WALTER Staff Writer

TINTON FALLS — A hopeful Tinton Falls administration has requested that the Borough Council consider which options to go after for a state transportation grant.

Borough Engineer David Marks, of T&M Associates, explained the grant program that the borough is pursuing.

“The state of New Jersey has put together the municipal aid grant program for fiscal year 2011 and they’ve identified five different areas for funding,” he said at the July 6 Borough Council workshop meeting.

“There is the typical municipal aid … and there is also [grants for] bikeways, centers of place, safe street transit, and transit village.”

Marks explained that the borough is not eligible for all of the five programs.

“Unfortunately, two of the programs we are not eligible for — centers of place and transit village,” he said. “There are only a handful of communities in New Jersey that have those designations.”

Before explaining what the best options might be, Marks asked the council for ideas.

“We’d like to ask the mayor and council if there are any projects that they have in mind,” he said. “Give it some thought if there is any particular project you’d like to evaluate further.”

Marks then gave his preferred option for the application.

“One good option would obviously be the continuation of Heritage Boulevard,” he said, adding that the borough previously received $200,000 in funding for the project.

“We would consider going from Roslyn Drive to Asbury Avenue this year,” he added, then listed another alternative for the grant application.

“Another option would be Apple Street,” he said, describing the road’s condition as poor.

“It’s a good candidate for DOT funding because it connects two county routes.”

He said another option would be to put sidewalks along one of the borough’s roadways.

“A third potential project would be to put in sidewalks along Essex Road,” he said. “This is something that would tie into the county’s improvements along Asbury Avenue.

“We can start at Asbury Avenue and head toward Seabrook Village as one phase,” he added. “As a potential second phase to that project, we can finish up from Seabrook Village to the [Jersey Shore Premium] outlet shopping mall.”

Marks gave his opinion on what he thought the best option would be.

“These are just three ideas we put together; we are open to any others,” he added. “I think all three are very fundable. Maybe the two best would be the continuation of Heritage Boulevard— the state does like to fund phased projects — or the Essex Road sidewalk because they do like the sidewalk routes and alternative means of transportation.”

Both the mayor and council president zeroed in on a particular project.

“All things considered, probably Apple Street would be the biggest priority,” Mayor Michael Skudera said. “It has more traffic than Heritage, it has a better chance of getting funding because it connects two busy roads, and the road is in pretty bad shape.”

“I agree with that totally,” council President Gary Baldwin said.

Marks said he isn’t sure how much money the borough can expect.

“I’m sure you’re wondering how much money we can get. There is a big question mark there,” he said. “I’d imagine state funds are limited. We are going to have a lot of competition from our neighboring municipalities and every other municipality throughout the state.

“I think a well-written and well-thoughtout application could put us over the top.”

Marks said the borough would have to kick in a minimal amount of money.

“These are 100 percent grants,” he said. “We would need to put up any kind of soft costs, any kind of survey, legal fees, engineering fees.

“They will fund some inspection services, up to 15 percent of the contract amount,” he added. “Let’s say we get a $200,000 award and we have a $200,000 project, it’ll cover everything.”

One project that has been highly controversial in the borough is adding lighting for Liberty II Park, which one councilmember wanted to consider.

“I know we submitted a grant to do the lighting in there, and you told us this wasn’t going to fly and it didn’t,” Councilwoman NancyAnn Fama said. “Any thought on that at all?” Marks said he doesn’t think this grant could be used for the lighting.

“This particular program is very specific for transportation-based improvements,” he said. “They really are for either trying to restore deteriorating roadways, transit-based improvements, pedestrian safety, intersection-based improvements.”

Fama felt that there might be a loophole that would make it possible for the funds to be used to install the lighting in the park.

“I was looking at that, and said if you created a bikeway around Liberty Park and then you had to throw some lights up … ” she said.

Marks said he could talk to the DOT about that option to see if the DOT would be open to it.





Click here to enlarge



No Flash Detected
Please download the latest version by clicking below:

Get

Click for www.tomsford.com