JACKSON — The Ocean County Board of Freeholders is taking another step toward the dualization of a 3-mile stretch of County Line Road in Jackson.
The freeholders are expected to seek bids for the next step in the ultimate $10 million project that will upgrade the road into a divided highway with a grass median between Jackson Mills-Freehold Road and Bennetts Mills Road.
Bids will be sought for the estimated $1 million cost of clearing the properties along the route in preparation of moving utility lines, Ocean County Engineer Ronald A. Lotrecchio said.
“We expect to be involved with utility relocation work for at least another year,” Lotrecchio said.
Once that work is done, actual construction work on the new, wider road can begin, he said.
Besides the addition of a grass median and one new lane in each direction, the project will include improvements to several intersections along the route, as well as upgrades to the storm drainage system, Lotrecchio said.
“This is a vital project to Jackson as well as the entire northern part of the county,” Freeholder Deputy Director John P. Kelly said. “County Line Road is one of our main east-west arteries linking Jackson and Lakewood.”
Kelly, who is the liaison to the Ocean County Department of Engineering, said the freeholders continue to invest in the county road system to make it the most modern and safest in the state.