Sledgehammers Hit Lincoln Place as Project Begins

Tec-Con began working on Lincoln Place Tuesday, beginning the long-awaited improvement project.

Workers with sledgehammers and machinery removed curbing from the train station side of the road. The entire road was closed to thru traffic, as the Madison Police Department is alerting residents to expect delays and detours for the next eight to 10 weeks.

The contracts for the project were awarded at the July 26 Borough Council meeting. They were to Tec-Con in the amount of $608,970 for the redevelopment, concrete pavers to Grinnell Recycling for $16,640, and Victorian lamppost fixtures to Turtle & Hughes for $89,700. A a bid for lampposts at the same meeting was rejected  because the vendor did not meet the bid specifications."

The contract awards were approved with only one no vote, that coming from Councilman Sam Cerciello, who wanted someone who would use Cambridge pavers with ArmorTec. The discussion became heated on the subject at that meeting.

The project, the survey and design portion of which was handled by Pennoni Associates of Cedar Knolls, has been through several presentations at the council level. At all meetings with the project on the agenda, members of the business community made up a large portion of the audience, many voicing their support to see it go forward.

Pennoni, with the help of the business community and Main Street Executive Director Jim Burnet, was able to give the council multiple priced improvement options, allowing it to select the lesser option if the members felt it was necessary given the budget climate in the borough and throughout the state. The contracts that were awarded on July 26 were part of the the lower-cost option.

There is still a possibility that PSE&G will help the borough financially in the mill and overlay portion of the improvement project, as it would have had to pave a portion of the road already after necessary maintenance work.

PSE&G already accelerated its schedule to do work on the gas lines underneath the road to help accommodate the Lincoln Place capital project. That work was done in late April. At that time, Borough Administrator Ray Codey said the company agreed to the borough's request, as it did not want to reconstruct and mill and overlay the road and then have PSE&G come in and rip it up for the project later on.

The improvement project itself is now underway.