BY JOSH DAVIDSON
Staff Writer
ABERDEEN —The state Department of Transportation will present its plan to improve portions of Route 35 to the public next month.
The state’s Department of Transportation is expected to present its planned improvements to Prospect Avenue and Route 35 going north toward Old Bridge, at the March 16 Township Council meeting, township Manager Mark Coren said.
The presentation will address flooding, road widening and the addition of jug handles in the area.
Drainage and traffic flow near Cliffwood Avenue going as far as the Old Bridge border is expected to be discussed at the meeting, as well as the addition of shoulders to area roads to improve safety conditions, Coren said.
The DOT gave a similar presentation to the council regarding that same section of Route 35 about three years ago, Deputy Mayor Owen Drapkin said.
"It’s really a restructuring of the whole area over there," he said.
The March 16 meeting will provide enough public notification before work on the project takes place, Coren said.
The meeting will also allow the council to get input from the public on necessary road improvements in the area, Drapkin said.
The presentation will be similar to the one the DOT held in April that unveiled improvements it intends to make at the intersection of Route 34 and Lloyd Road, he said.
The council passed a resolution in May requesting that the DOT move the Route 34 intersection improvement project to the top of its priority list. If that project is fast-tracked, it would take three years instead of five to seven years to complete.
Coren said he received a memo from state Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-19), who chairs the assembly’s transportation committee, stating that his staff is pushing to move ahead quickly with the Route 34 project.
"That [the fast tracking] is one thing we’re hoping for because of everything that’s going on over there," Drapkin said.