The Daily Journal
October 15, 2009
By JOSEPH P. SMITH
VINELAND -- New Jersey is spreading nearly $2 million in roadway improvement money across Cumberland County.
The Department of Transportation on Wednesday released a list of $103.7 million in grants to municipalities.
In Atlantic County, Buena is getting $190,000 and Buena Vista Township $170,000.
The grants reach 13 of 14 Cumberland communities. Stowe Creek was left out.
Vineland tops the grant recipients with $202,519 for a reconstruction of Sheridan Avenue in the eastern part of town.
"The road is horrible," Vineland Mayor Robert Romano said.
Romano said Sheridan is on a short list of the worst roads in the city, along with stretches of East Avenue and Vine Road.
"They all have to be reconstructed," Romano said. "But Sheridan is so bad. I talked to a farmer out there and he said they (drivers) are always running off the road. It's a huge curve out there."
Vineland had pegged the cost of the project at $440,000.
In Millville, Miller Avenue will get major work done with a $189,861 award.
"That's about what we get every year," City Commissioner Dale Finch said. "It's not enough to do a whole lot of road."
Finch, who overseas the Road Department, said the avenue project was submitted last year for state consideration along with neighboring Whitaker Avenue.
Finch said Miller was dropped and Whitaker accepted because material costs to do both were too high, so it was put back in the mix for 2009.
"There's going to be drainage, curbs put in, a sidewalk on one side and an overlay," Finch said.
Finch said the roads in that area serve to route traffic away from inner-city areas.
The Buena award will go toward a .37-mile stretch of Forest Grove Road, a stretch important locally and to the state because it connects county and state roadways.
"The more you can connect (those), the better your chances," Buena Mayor Joseph Baruffi said.
"That was a factor," he said. "Secondly, we felt there was a need. Flower Avenue was our first request, but it got denied. They (DOT) picked this one."
Baruffi said the project involves milling, overlaying and curbing. The borough had asked for $204,700, but construction companies are in need of work and that may drive bid prices down, he said.
Buena Vista's award will go to complete a third stage in the overhaul of Cains Mill Road, the main road in Collings Lakes.
Mayor Chuck Chiarello said phase two of the Cains Mill project wrapped up this summer.
"We were able to get from the Folsom border to a street called Malaga Road," Chiarello said. "Did a beautiful job, got everything updated -- did a lot of sidewalks."
Chiarello said the 2009 grant will get the project close to, if not up to, Jackson Road. Work could start in the spring, he said.
State Sen. Stephen Sweeney, Assemblyman John Burzichelli and Assemblywoman Celeste Riley, all D-3, announced the western Cumberland grants Tuesday.
"It is important that as we continue to face a difficult economic situation, we remember that there are projects that are necessary to public safety that should not be forgotten," Riley said. "These projects will all help to improve public safety, while simultaneously providing additional jobs, in these municipalities."