$1M Plan To Repave Belleville Roads: Rutgers, Union, Mill Streets

BELLEVILLE, NJ — A $1.1 million plan to repave part of Rutgers Street and two other roadways in Belleville is set to kick off later this summer, county officials reported Monday.

Rutgers Street from Washington Avenue to Main Street in Belleville will be repaved to address “longstanding community concerns,” Essex County officials stated.

Part of the project includes repaving the intersection of Rutgers Street and Main Street, which is considered to be under the jurisdiction of the NJ Department of Transportation, county officials said.

In addition to Rutgers Street, Union Street from Belleville Avenue to the Newark City line and Mill Street from Union Avenue to Bridge Street and Washington Avenue to Main Street will be repaved.

John F. Kennedy Parkway from Bay Avenue/Valentine Road to Baldwin Street in Bloomfield, and River Road in Nutley from Park Avenue to the Belleville line also will be repaved, officials said.

The work is scheduled to start the first week of August and be completed in about one week.

A publicly bid contract for $1,192,930 to perform the construction work is on the July 10 agenda for the Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders. It’s being funded with a grant from the Community Development Block Grant program and through the Essex County capital budget, officials said.

Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. said his administration was already planning to repave the county-owned section of Rutgers Street this year when State Senator Teresa Ruiz and Belleville Mayor Michael Melham reached out with concerns about the busy roadway.

Ruiz said that community members have been calling her office about the condition of the intersection at Rutgers and Main for more than a year.

“Regardless of who is overhauling our infrastructure, we have to make sure we are ensuring our responsibility to provide safe streets,” Ruiz said.

Melham said that his administration has been sharing their concerns about Rutgers Street with state officials for months.

“We are very happy that Essex County is standing behind Belleville in this matter,” Melham said.

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