METUCHEN – After literally five years, lighted crosswalks will soon illuminate five intersections in Metuchen.
In 2014, the borough was awarded a U.S. Department of Transportation federal grant for the lighted crosswalks; however, the borough only learned it could proceed to go out to bid for the lighted crosswalk improvements on Sept. 6 through a letter.
“We have been awaiting for literally almost five years now,” Borough Administrator Jay Muldoon said. “It is a federal grant that goes from the [U.S.] Department of Transportation to the New Jersey Department of Transportation and funneled through local aid.”
The lighted crosswalks will be implemented at the intersections of Main Street and Brunswick Avenue, Main Street and Lincoln Avenue, Route 27 and Oak Avenue, Central and Middlesex avenues, and Christol Street and Grove Avenue.
Mayor Jonathan Busch said he mentioned the lighted crosswalks in both of his state of the borough addresses for January 2018 and this year. He said he made sure with Muldoon he could mention the improvements.
“When combining Trenton bureaucracy and federal bureaucracy this is what it is like,” he said.
The borough already has lighted crosswalks at Main Street and Highland Avenue, Center Street and Middlesex Avenue and Main Street and Pennsylvania Avenue.