DOT says township’s concerns justified

After a meeting with township Mayor Janice Mironov Wednesday, the DOT commissioner said his department would review policies to avoid an incident like the one last week involving detour signs.

By: Scott Morgan
   EAST WINDSOR — State Department of Transportation officials this week justified township concerns regarding the placement of construction detour signs that were removed by the township last week.
   DOT Commissioner James Fox met Wednesday with Mayor Janice Mironov to discuss the township’s version of events that sparked a media buzz last Wednesday. Commissioner Fox, according to a DOT press release, vindicated the mayor’s concerns about the signs, which were intended to reroute traffic around street construction for the borough’s downtown revitalization project.
   Last week, Hightstown officials complained about the removal of the signs, saying the township’s actions had disrupted the beginning of construction. Mayor Mironov defended the township’s removal of the signs, saying she believed they had been placed in error. In response, the mayor ordered William Askenstedt, director of the township’s Public Works Department, to remove the signs from their stands and place them on the adjacent ground. Electronic flashing signs were turned away from traffic as well.
   The DOT aided the borough’s Public Works Department in replacing the signs last week and moving the flashing signs back to their original positions.
   This week, Mayor Mironov met with Commissioner Fox to discuss the lack of notice she said the borough gave about placing the signs.
   Chief among the township’s concerns, the mayor said, was the placement of "daytime" detour signs, which according to a letter sent to Mayor Mironov by Hightstown Mayor Amy Aughenbaugh in May 2001, were not intended to be erected in the township. This letter, which Mayor Aughenbaugh admitted was the last official communication from the borough to the township regarding the revitalization, states that detour signs in the township would be displayed only for night hours and when the roads were completely closed.
   According to a DOT press release, Commissioner Fox acknowledged Mayor Mironov’s grievances as justified concerns and complaints. He also acknowledged a lack of communication on the borough’s behalf regarding the placement of the signs. Mr. Fox added the department will seek ways to ensure such an incident does not occur again so easily.
   On Mayor Mironov’s position, Mayor Aughenbaugh said only that the phone lines were open both ways.
   "All it took was a phone call," Mayor Aughenbaugh said.
   Mayor Mironov has maintained that no damage was done to the signs, as was initially accused by some borough officials, and that she supports the borough’s revitalization plans. She also said she sees "no constructive purpose to be served by focusing any further time and attention on these signs.
   "We hope that from this regretful and unfortunate experience, a positive result can come," the mayor said.
   Work on the much-anticipated downtown revitalization project began Friday.