DOT awards $200,000 for WA road improvements

By Linda Seida, Staff Writer
   WEST AMWELL — The New Jersey Department of Transportation has awarded a $200,000 road improvement grant to the township, bringing West Amwell’s grant total for similar projects over the past two years to more than $800,000.
   The $200,000 grant, announced Friday, is earmarked for improvements at the intersection of Rocktown Hill and Rocktown-Lambertville roads.
   ”There are drainage problems there, and that’s why we requested the grant earlier this year,” Deputy Mayor Ron Shapella said.
   Work is expected to begin in 2009.
   ”Bids have to go out,” Mr. Shapella said. “We actually have to get the money and include it in the township budget. It’s for fiscal year 2009 so more than likely it will be in the spring.”
   Over the last two years, more than $800,000 in grants went to resurfacing and similar road improvement projects in the township, according to Mr. Shapella.
   He said the DOT grant brings with it “absolutely no direct cost to West Amwell taxpayers.”
   Normally, similar grant awards top out at $150,000, Mr. Shapella said he was informed by the township’s engineer.
   Officials hope the roadwork will not stop with last week’s award.
   ”We have also applied to the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission for another $450,000 to continue the work on Rocktown-Lambertville Road,” Mr. Shapella said.
   Last year, the commission awarded the township a $360,000 grant that was used to widen and resurface Rocktown-Lambertville Road from county Route 601 to a point 1,500 feet east. The grant also covered some drainage improvements.
   Other improvements included widening the road from 18 feet to 22 feet. The 2-foot shoulders remained the same width.
   West Amwell also has been fortunate recently in winning other types of state grants. For example, last month the Open Space Committee announced an $825,000 grant that will go toward the purchase of more than 130 acres of farmland along Route 179.
   The State Agriculture Development Committee grant, obtained with the aid of the Hunterdon Land Trust Alliance, helps defray the $1.5 million cost.