On Friday, Nov. 15, Gov. Jon S. Corzine held a press conference at Borough Hall in Metuchen alongside Mayor Tom Vahalla, Sen. Barbara Buono, Transportation Commissioner Kris Kolluri and Assemblyman Pat Diegnan to announce that Metuchen will receive $218,000 in municipal aid grants for road improvements on Grove Avenue, Phase II.
Corzine announced a day earlier that $78.75 million in New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) municipal aid grants was awarded to 352 towns to fund street improvements, rehabilitation and safety projects.
According to Corzine, local aid will help provide road improvements, relieve property taxes and promote economic growth — three elements that Corzine said are essential to New Jersey’s turnaround. He also said that if federal aid helped with additional funding, more towns could receive aid.
“We don’t want to take things out of the budget that are job creators,” said Corzine. “It’s a competitive process.”
NJDOT allows towns to apply for municipal aid funding for road resurfacing, rehabilitation, reconstruction and signalization. The funding amount is based on a town’s population and road mileage. When the contract is awarded, 75 percent of the grant is provided and the remaining 25 percent is given when the job is completed.
According to Commissioner Kolluri, 1,200 construction jobs have been lost since March of this year, and this will create about 780 New Jersey jobs.
“That’s what this program represents,” said Kolluri. “This is just the beginning.”
Buono told the governor, “We are honored that you’ve chosen Metuchen. We are in dire need of improvement — this funding is vital.”
Buono said the aid will curtail property taxes and enable success while meeting the demands of the 21st century.
“It will create the kind of jobs we want and need in New Jersey to weather this economic downturn,” she added.
Vahalla believes this is a great opportunity to create jobs, while improving the town’s passageways.
“We anticipate getting started in the springtime or sooner, depending on the weather,” said the mayor.
According to Vahalla, the aid will be used to repave and repair Grove Avenue in the second phase of a project that began with the repaving of Middlesex Avenue to Woodbridge Avenue.
“We want to make this road a decent road to pass on,” said Vahalla. “We really wouldn’t be able to do this without the state.”
Other local towns that received aid include Edison, with $250,000 for the resurfacing of Roxy Avenue, and Woodbridge, which received $288,828 for the milling and resurfacing of Lake Avenue.
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