State Grants To Improve Freehold Roads

Freehold Borough and Township are scheduled to receive state grant money for infrastructure improvements, as part of a $7.2 million state grant disbursment to towns throughout New Jersey.

Freehold Borough and Township are among 36 Monmouth County towns sharing in the $7,247,432 pot of local aid grants targeting “street, safety and quality-of-life’’ improvements, according to a DOT release.

In the borough, the Department of Transportation has earmarked $201,062 for improvements to Throckmorton Street while the township is slated to receive $150,000 for work on Willowbrook Road, according to the release.

The grants are part of a package of 406 local aid grants totaling $86.5 million announced for towns throughout the state.

“These grants enable municipalities to stretch their resources and advance important roadway projects and other safety and quality-of-life improvements that benefit all who share the road, including pedestrians and bicyclists,’’ James Simpson, DOT commissioner, said in the release.

The grant money will go a long way to pay for re-paving of the borough’s Throckmorton Avenue from Monmouth to Main St., said Joseph B. Bellina, borough administrator.

The project has an estimated price tag of about $525,000. But the state money, combined with a community development block grant the borough secured last year, about 72 percent of the project is being paid for in grant money, he said.

“It’s not a bad shot in the arm,’’ Bellina said.

The township plans to use the grant money to repave Willowbrook Road from from Halls Mills Road to the Route 33, said Peter R. Valesi, township administrator.   The paving of about ¾-mile of road is estimated to cost about $175,000, Valesi said.

“We try to identify roads that are traffic connector,’’ Valesi said. “We’re real happy about this.’’