The Christie Administration recently announced that 22 Essex County municipalities — that’s all of them — will share $6.8 million in grants to fund road repair projects, under the FY 11 state Municipal Aid program.
Funded Baristaville projects include Fairview Avenue in South Orange, South Mountain Avenue in Montclair, Great Hills Road and Ridgewood Road in Millburn, Tuscan Road in Maplewood, Montgomery Street/JFK Drive Intersection in Bloomfield, Belle Terre Road and Roosevelt Avenue in West Orange and “various streets” in Glen Ridge.
The grants are among 370 statewide, totaling $78.75 million to help municipalities advance street improvement, safety and other projects without burdening local property taxpayers. The highly competitive program is part of New Jersey’s $200 million Local Aid program administered by NJDOT. The Department received 677 applications requesting more than $246 million for the municipal aid grants.
“The municipal aid component helps relieve some pressure on property taxes and enables local officials to make street improvements that they otherwise might not be able to afford,” said NJDOT Commissioner James Simpson.
In NJ, municipal governments maintain more than 28,000 centerline miles of streets and roads, or 74 percent of the statewide total. The grant program covers a variety of projects, including road resurfacing and reconstruction projects. However, towns are also encouraged to submit applications for such non-traditional projects as those that support safety, walking and biking and streetscape improvements in their communities. Seven percent of the projects selected for funding were of that type.
Under the Municipal Aid grant program, each county gets a share of the total funding based on population, the number of local centerline miles and other factors, and municipalities compete for portions of their county’s share. NJDOT provides 75 percent of the grant amount when a town awards a contract and the remaining 25 percent upon completion of the project.
Click here for a list by county of all 370 projects selected for grants.
