METUCHEN — Amboy Avenue may have been paved recently, but residents who live on intersecting streets of the county road petitioned Borough officials to do something about their streets, which have been plagued with cracks and potholes for what they said has been a very long time.
The Amboy Avenue resurfacing project along Amboy Avenue from the Woodbridge Township border through Metuchen started on Aug. 2 and continued through Sept. 1.
The project was part of a joint effort between Middlesex County and the New Jersey Department of Transportation.
Mayor Peter Cammarano said the project is pretty crazy with three jurisdictions paving a mile and a half of roadway.
“The County paves curb to curb,” he said.
However, Amboy Avenue on the Clara Barton section of Edison Township side had 20 feet or so of “wrap around paving” of the intersections completed.
“That section of Amboy Avenue is under the jurisdiction of Edison Township,” Cammarano said. “When [Edison] put the bump outs in years ago they assumed jurisdiction of Amboy Avenue. The County did the work, but money for it came from Edison.”
Resident Jerry Yuros, who has lived on Voorhees Place for 50 years, asked Cammarano and the Borough Council at a meeting on Aug. 21 why Metuchen couldn’t have the same deal.
The mayor said the wrap around paving was not a deal.
“[Edison] paid for the paving job” he said. “We are not paying for paving of Amboy Avenue.”
Cammarano said borough officials are looking at the paving of the borough streets.
“It’s a problem and we have to address it … how we go about it at this point, I do not have an answer,” he said.
Another resident asked if the borough could work with the gas company that has been in the area doing work for some time.
Cammarano said they have been in discussions with the gas company to see if the borough can capitalize on sharing the cost of paving wherever the gas company is doing work.
“It really comes down to dollars, how much it is going to cost and how many streets,” he said adding the borough has to make sure resources are in place for a big paving job.
Cammarano said a discussion with the gas company is a unique opportunity for the borough.
“I can tell you we cannot do every street,” he said. “The cost would be $3 to 4 million off top of my head. That’s what we are trying to figure out.”