By linda denicola
Staff Writer
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — The Kozloski Road extension, which will extend the thoroughfare north from Route 537 to Route 79, is nearing completion. According to Monmouth County Engineer Theodore Giannechini, the project is about 75 to 80 percent complete.
A section of the new road from Dutch Lane Road to Route 79 has been given its final paving and striping and the retaining walls are done, he said.
Right now, utility poles and wires are being relocated on Route 537 and there is also utility work to be done on Dutch Lane Road. In the meantime, the contractor will be shutting down until after Jan. 1, the county engineer said.
The next step in the project is road work, widening and drainage improvements on Route 537, Giannechini explained.
"We need to do final paving for the new road between Route 537 and Dutch Lane Road. We also need to finish striping," he explained.
Aside from the final paving, Giannechini said, construction of a new traffic signal on Dutch Lane Road needs to be completed and revisions to the traffic light at Route 537 and Kozloski Road — which is going from a "T" intersection to a four-way intersection — must be made.
"We have to move the poles back farther and reprogram the controls. But, the majority of the big items have been done. We are working on a completion schedule with the contractor right now," he said.
Giannechini said the contractor, V. DiIorio and Son, Inc., South Plainfield, has done a very good job on this project which extends Kozloski Road 1.7 miles from Route 537 to Route 79.
Part of a $7.5 million project covered by the state Transportation Trust Fund, planners expect the new road will improve access to Route 33 and Route 537. It is also expected to lighten traffic congestion on East Freehold Road, which runs parallel to the new stretch of Kozloski Road.
According to Giannechini, the snow earlier in the month held up work a bit, but the contractor has been working steadily ever since. In addition, last summer, the project was slowed because workers found an area of substandard fill, which had to be replaced.