CRANBURY: Town mulling road projects

By Kaitlyn Kanzler, Special Writer
   CRANBURY — With only two weeks left until the state Department of Transportation’s grant applications are due, the Township Committee has yet to decide which roads it will apply to repair.
   According to Township Engineer Bill Tanner, the DOT puts out grants that allow multiple uses, but are typically attached to transportation, including other transportation services, such as making a bus station nicer or providing a bike path for an area that needs one.
   The rules for applying for the grants have changed, according to Mr. Tanner.
   In the past, a municipality was able to submit up to three projects for a grant. Now, a municipality is only allowed to submit two and they cannot be in the same category.
   The three roads at the top of the township’s list are Cranbury-Brickyard Road, John White Road, and Petty Road.
   According to Township Administrator Denise Marabello, 10 percent of the grants awarded will be in the quality of life category that includes beautification.
   The grants, according to Ms. Marabello, would allow paving, milling, and grinding to happen to roads in desperate need of repair.
   According to Mr. Tanner, the state allots municipalities around half of the money asked for in the grant.
   ”It looks like they took the numbers and just cut them in half,” Mr. Tanner said.
   According to Mr. Tanner, the state did this to spread the money around a little bit more.
   John White Road, which is an extension of George White Road and stretches through two other municipalities, could potentially be awarded $317,000 to repair 2,200-2,300 feet of road.
   Mr. Tanner suggested that in the future, the committee consider doing a joint grant with Plainsboro to continue the road repair.
   Cranbury-Brickyard Road, which connects to Route 130 and Monroe Township and East Windsor, could be awarded $560,000 to repair 4,800 feet of road.
   ”Anyone who has driven on it knows that it is in horrible condition,” Mr. Tanner said. “It has more holes than road.”
   According to Mr. Tanner, the problems on Cranbury-Brickyard Road vary from drainage problems to guide rail maintenance. He also mentioned that the New Jersey Turnpike Authority is putting in a bridge and redoing part of the road.
   ”This is actually a good one to sort of piggyback on,” Mr. Tanner said.
   Petty Road, a road that grew around farms, could be awarded $317,000 to repair 6,000 feet of road.
   Several residents attending the meeting asked committee members to seriously consider putting Petty Road at the top of their list.
   According to resident Connie Bauder, who has lived on Petty Road since 1990, the street is dangerous and the school has classified it as a dangerous road, requiring buses to pick up each child at their house.
   ”The road is not wide enough,” Ms. Bauder said.
   According to Ms. Bauder, the road is starting to disintegrate because cars have to move off the road to pass each other, causing asphalt to snap off.
   ”Cars have to play chicken,” resident Tom Connolly said, echoing Ms. Bauder’s statements about the width of the road.
   According to Mr. Tanner, several things come into play when a road is widened including water quality issues with the addition of an impervious surface after a certain number of square feet.
   According to Mr. Connolly, Petty Road is littered with cracks, potholes, and dips in the road.
   According to Ms. Bauder, the previous engineer put in dry wells when the road was last paved, but they have sunk into the road causing dangerous dips.
   ”People have to drive in the middle of the road and they can’t drive the speed limit, which is 35 mph, or they will lose control of their cars,” Ms. Bauder said.
   A dry well is an underground structure that disposes of unwanted water by dissipating it into the ground where it merges with the local ground water.
   According to Mr. Tanner, a dry well isn’t a solution for a road that sits on a high water table.
   The water table in that area is 6 inches, according to Ms. Bauder.
   ”Sometimes you get money and sometimes you don’t,” Mr. Tanner said.
   Both Cranbury-Brickyard Road and John White Road were on the list of the top three roads in need of repair last year.
   The Township Committee will discuss its road choice further at its Oct. 8 meeting.
   According to Ms. Marabello, the grants for the beautification and road repairs are due Oct. 16.