Morris County Will Resurface Roads As Scheduled, Despite Funding Issues

Twelve miles of roads across 8 municipalities in Morris County will be resurfaced, as originally planned by Morris County officials, despite a Trenton stalemate that has blocked access to the state Transportation Trust Fund.

Last Thursday, Morris County freeholders decided to go ahead with a portion of the resurfacing projects that had been put on the docket for 2016 using only the available $4.1 million in county tax dollars, and not any of the promised matching funds from the state Transportation Trust Fund.

The freeholders had anticipated $3.9 million in state aid, but now the rejiggered plan will be financed by $3.4 million in county capital funding that had been approved for resurfacing work, plus an extra $700,000 from the amount budgeted for rock salt purchases last winter. The original plan including state aid was for 22 miles of paving.

The prioritized roads that have been chosen to be done this year by the county's engineering team include:

• Boonton: Boonton Avenue, 0.9 miles, Sheep Hill Road to the Montville border
• Butler: Boonton Avenue, 0.8 miles, Route 23 to Kiel Avenue
• Chatham: Green Village Road, 0.4 miles, Shunpike Road to Bridge 1400-504
• Chatham: Shunpike Road, 1.3 miles, Noe Road to Green Village Road
• Parsippany: South Beverwyck Road, 1.0 miles, Reynolds Avenue to Route 80
• Rockaway: Mount Hope Road, 1.2 miles, Mount Hope Ave to Reservoir Road
• Roxbury: Center Street, 1.7 miles, Lakeside Boulevard to the Netcong border
• Roxbury: Kenvil Avenue, 1.0 miles, Main Street to Route 46
• Roxbury: Lakeside Boulevard, 0.9 miles, Landing Road to the county border
• Washington: Schooley’s Mountain Road, 1.4 miles, Flocktown Road to Newburgh Road
• Washington: Schooley’s Mountain Road, 1.0 miles, Springtown Road to Flocktown Road
• Wharton: North Main Street, 1.6 miles, Route 46 to Dewey Avenue

These 12 miles of road are currently ready for construction bids. The roads will be resurfaced over the next few months, according to freeholders, as part of their pledge to aggressively maintain the county's road infrastructure in 2017. Even if the state Trust Fund issues are not resolved, freeholders say they will target 25 to 30 miles of county roads next year.

“We want county residents to know the freeholders are committed to this effort, and that to allow our roads to fall into disrepair would not be acceptable,’’ said Freeholder Director Kathy DeFillippo. “The board is prepared to allocate county funding to take care of our infrastructure needs in 2017, even if the state does not resolve the Transportation Trust Fund issue. We have an obligation to our residents and businesses to keep that commitment.’’

The county used leftover 2015 road funds to do a June milling and resurfacing project on a 1.6 mile section of Main Street in Wharton, from Route 46 to just short of Dewey Avenue.

Other projects that had been scheduled in 2016 will be pushed back to 2017 since this county, like all counties in the state, has to wait for a state resolution to the TTF issue.

Image via Morris County Freeholders, used under Creative Commons.