Aheavily used county bridge in Millstone Township will close for repairs next year.
JEFF GRANIT staff The retaining wall of the Perrineville Lake bridge shows signs of cracking and decay. The bridge will close for six months next year to undergo renovations. Township Engineer Matt Shafai reported at the Millstone Township Committee meeting Dec. 19 that Monmouth County’s M-49 bridge, located on Perrineville Road just west of Agress Road, will close from July to December.
“It will inconvenience a lot of people,” he said.
When Deputy Mayor Robert Kinsey asked if the county would do the bridge work in phases, Shafai said the area is hard to work in and that the county’s work would be limited by encroaching wetlands and fish spawning in the nearby Rocky Brook.
Mayor Nancy Grbelja said the town will have to do a lot of planning to deal with the bridge closure.
“It cuts a whole section of town off,” she said.
Shafai also reported that the county would start work on the intersection of Woodville Road and Route 527 in the summer. The county is also considering different options for work on the Paint Island Spring, Millstone, and Stagecoach roads intersection, which is more commonly referred to as Scooters Corner, he said.
JEFF GRANIT staff The busy bridge across Perrineville Lake in Millstone Township will close for six months next year to undergo renovations. “There are five or six different concepts they are looking at,” he said. “Once they decide, they will come back to us with what they want to do.”
Another county project will entail work on the bridge on Baird Road, which is located east of the middle school entrance. Shafai said the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has permits for the work, but the county has not yet set a date to advertise for bids for the project. The county also expects to repair another bridge on Baird Road, east of Stillhouse Road, in 2009, he said.
Shafai also provided the Township Committee with an update on municipal projects. He said the first phase of the Abate Park development is complete except for seeding and grading that must be done in the spring.
The second phase of the Abate Park project will entail the construction of restroom facilities, for which the township has received a $75,000 grant. The restrooms will be built in mid to late summer, he said.
Shafai also reported that work on Brandywine Park and improvements to Millstone Road, from Baird Road to Route 33, have been completed. The latter project will require some restoration work that will be finished in the spring, he said.
The township has applied for a grant from the New Jersey Department of Transportation for additional work on Baird Road, but has not yet heard whether the grant has been approved, according to Shafai.
The engineer also reported that the township has finished its 2007 municipal road program, which included fixing much of the drainage in town.