By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Seeking to repair roads that suffered damage from last year’s harsh winter weather, Lawrence Township officials have embarked an aggressive road repair program.
Last week, Township Council awarded a contract to American Asphalt Co. Inc. to repave Province Line Road between Route 206 and Princeton Pike. The company’s $224,270 bid was the lowest of six submitted for the job — ranging from $224,270 to $278,635.
Work on the project, which will take about a week to complete, is expected to start in late September or early October, said Municipal Engineer Jim Parvesse.
Township Council may award a bid later this month to repave another section of Province Line Road between Rosedale Road and the Stony Brook bridge, Mr. Parvesse said. The cost of that project is being split between Princeton and Lawrence, because it is on the township border.
In the same neighborhood, the southbound lane on Route 206 — between Province Line Road and the Fackler Road extension — is being repaved by a contractor hired by the New Jersey American Water Co. The work is being done at night, between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.
The contractor is removing the top half-inch of asphalt, including some of the old concrete road surface underneath the asphalt, Mr. Parvesse said. New pavement will be applied on top of the existing surface.
The water company is required to repave the road because it had to dig up part of the roadway to install new water lines last year. Wherever the road surface has been disturbed, the water company is "milling" off the top layer of asphalt to the center line of the road and to replace it with new asphalt, Mr. Parvesse said.
Later this month, a section of Princeton Pike — between Harney’s Corner and the bridge over the Shabakunk Creek, near Captain Paul’s Firehouse Dogs — will be repaved. The road will be open while the work is in progress, Mr. Parvesse said. The project is expected to cost about $150,000.
And a 1,500-foot-long section of Federal City Road, between the I-95 overpass and the curve in the road, will be repaved this month, he said. That job is expected to cost about $100,000.
"Normally, we would do (the projects) in the spring, but we are pushing it up because of the condition of the roads," Mr. Parvesse said. "We are trying to beat the winter, so the roads will be in a lot better shape, come spring."

