By Elizabeth Wulfhorst
Although the morning commute for many still consists of a path from the bedroom to a makeshift home office – possibly also known as the kitchen counter – those who do have to get behind the wheel may notice an increase in road construction throughout Monmouth County.
On the state, county and local levels, roadwork projects have been finished, are nearing completion, are getting underway or, in some instances, are in the planning phase.
“In the past three years we’ve probably done about close to 40 transportation projects of roughly $101 million,” said Thomas A. Arnone, Monmouth County Freeholder director.
Last month the freeholders passed a resolution awarding Black Rock Enterprises the contract for resurfacing 17 miles of county roads. The work, which includes pavement milling, resurfacing, striping and markings, and the upgrading or addition of ADA curb ramps, will begin soon. The work is part of an annual program that “has been developed to keep our roads in a state of good repair.”
The county funds roadwork projects with either federal, state or county money, Arnone said. “We’ve awarded $20 to $25 million per year” in transportation construction contracts, he noted, through “a great internal engineering program that saves taxpayers a lot of money.”
The milling and resurfacing work will be completed using county funds, Arnone said.
The county budgets “roughly $6 or $7 million ever y year to keep our infrastructure up,” he said. The freeholders try to have the yearly operational budget adopted early, quickly followed by the capital budget which leaves plenty of time to complete projects the rest of the year without worrying about bad weather and other factors.
“What good is it to get a capital budget approved in August and you only have August to December to do the work?” he said. Although this year COVID-19 impacted roadwork projects the way it did everything else. “It’s a little bit difficult.”
Arnone is a representative of the New Jersey Transportation Authority and he said the county has been very fortunate to receive state and federal grant money to complete projects.
He pointed to the completed Route 537/ Route 34 intersection improvements in Colts Neck made possible by an $18 million federal grant, but also noted a $1.3 million reconstruction of a bridge in Holmdel which will be completed with county funds.
The MT-24 bridge over McClees Creek along Navesink River Road in Middletown will be replaced with a single-span, two-lane bridge that includes a sidewalk, using grants from the New Jersey Department of Transportation. A federal grant of $8.2 million will cover the replacement of the bulkhead at the Belford Ferry Terminal.
The full replacement of the Rumson-Sea Bright bridge will cost “just shy of $100 million,” Arnone said.
Also on tap is the full replacement of the Oceanic Bridge, which Arnone noted is “a little bit controversial” because the decision has not yet been made as to what type of bridge will replace the existing one. That project will cost $150 million, all federally funded, according to Arnone. “We hope to start de- sign sometime by the end of the year, with construction to be started in 2026,” he said, adding that the project is so large he thinks it will be “nationally known” by engineers.
While these projects are necessary to repair and replace aging infrastructure, motorists can experience frustration with detours, changing traffic patterns and delays caused by construction.
Beginning Monday, Sept. 14, County Route 537 will be closed from the intersection of Route 34 to Laird Road for culvert reconstruction near Muhlenbrink Road. The closure is expected to last until Sept 22. The culvert allows water from Slope Brook to flow under the roadway which is a heavily traveled, according to Arnone. Detours using Laird Road, Phalanx Road and Route 34 will be in place.
Last month the ramp from Route 35 southbound to Cherry Tree Farm Road and Taylor Lane in Middletown was closed to install a manhole, but that is just one phase of a project that will also include milling and paving, replacing electrical structures, and re- striping Route 35 in both directions between Laurel Avenue and Cherry Tree Lane/Old Country Road, according to a release from the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT). Project completion is expected by the end of 2020.
The NJDOT also closed a section of Silverside Avenue in Little Silver for a week recently for a railroad crossing rehabilitation project. They removed the existing railroad crossing and replaced it with a new concrete crossing, as well as new asphalt approaches for a safer and smoother railroad crossing. This federally funded project was part of NJDOT’s “railroad grade-crossing safety program, which repairs, upgrades, or removes approximately 30 crossings each year, statewide,” according to a release.
Municipalities also take on both small and large-scale projects throughout the year to keep roads safe. Last month the Borough of Tinton Falls milled and paved Hope Road, a major artery through the municipality, from its northern terminus at Sycamore Avenue to Tinton Avenue. The project also included improvements to drainage and sewer structures, curb and sidewalk improvements, construction of ADA accessible handicap ramps, and improved traffic signage and striping, according to Thomas Neff of T&M Associates, the borough engineer.The borough received two NJDOT Municipal Aid grants totaling $540,000 and approximately $90,000 from the Borough of Eatontown through a shared service agreement. Tinton Falls covered the remaining cost of the nearly $700,000 project which was completed in about three weeks.
This article originally appeared in the Sept. 10, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times.
