Boro approves ambitious roads program
BY LINDA DeNICOLA
Staff Writer

TINTON FALLS - A $2.5 million road and recreation trail ordinance was approved by the Borough Council at their March 6 meeting.

Council President Brendan Tobin said later in the week that everyone on the council is excited about the roads program.

"We're going to improve several miles of roadways with this comprehensive combination of bonding, grants and so on. We get an economy of scale and we get speed with a larger project since larger vendors will bid on a larger job and they have more equipment to finish it faster," Tobin said, adding that the plan also includes walking trails around Sycamore Soccer Complex in the bid pack.

"We will use Open Space funds for that, which allows for a larger bid pack and for walkways that allow for handicap-accessible access to the fields and for passive recreation. This whole road program was well thought out and will be of tremendous benefit for a large part of the borough, at minimal expense per household," Tobin said.

The bond ordinance providing for the 2007 road and recreation trail reconstruction, construction and resurfacing program, appropriates $2,530,000 which includes $270,000 of Transportation Trust Fund grants expected to be received from the state Department of Transportation. It also includes a $113,000 down payment, which was included in previously adopted budgets, for capital improvements or the borough's Open Space Trust Fund.

In addition, negotiable bonds were authorized in the amount of $2,147,000.

The road program includes improvements to Hope, Essex, Squankum and Hockhockson roads, Riverdale Avenue West, Cloverdale Circle, Almar Avenue and the recreation trail at the Sycamore Soccer Complex. Improvements include excavation, milling, paving, installation of curbs, sidewalks and driveway apron, curb ramps and landscaping.