State aid requested for roads

By Audrey Levine Staff Writer
   Drivers traveling on Auten Road and Dukes Parkway West can look forward to improved roadways if the township receives its requested grant money to make repairs on the two roads.
   The Township Committee authorized a New Jersey Department of Transportation 2008 Local Aid grant application Aug. 14 to get the money necessary to complete the repairs.
   For both roads, if received, the grants will pay for half the cost of the repairs and the township will pay the remainder of the costs.
   According to Kevin Davis, township clerk, Hillsborough has received two grants over the past two years, totaling $300,000, for the purpose of repaving Auten Road.
   ”Auten Road is our number one priority,” said Tom Belanger, township engineer. “We’ve already repaved most sections and this is a continuation of the project.”
   The remainder of the money being applied for, $175,000, will be used to repave Dukes Parkway West.
   ”Dukes Parkway West ties into Route 206,” Mr. Belanger said. “Now, it has exceeded its life expectancy.”
   According to Mr. Belanger, the grants themselves are usually given by the state in response to the need to repair a road that deals with heavy traffic flow, among other characteristics. He said townships must include traffic counts with their applications to prove that a large volume of people use the road on a regular basis.
   ”The state looks at roads that most people benefit from driving on,” he said.
   Mr. Belanger said that the collector roadways – those such as Triangle Road and Hamilton Road, which come off Route 206 – are the ones that are most frequently in need of repairs because they are used most often. He said the township looks to repave them about every 10 years.
   After looking into repairing these collector roads with grant money, Mr. Belanger said the township will move to fix residential roads, where the traffic volume is lower. He said grant money is often not awarded to townships looking to improve the residential roads because they are not used by most people in the township.
   ”The state evaluates the traffic counts and looks at where there is most use,” he said.
   According to Mr. Davis, in February 2008, the township’s Capital Planning Committee will begin to look at residential and other less-traveled streets to determine which of them are in need of repairs.