East Windsor Receives $393K For Roadwork: Officials

EAST WINDSOR, NJ - East Windsor will receive nearly $400,000 in state aid for road reconstruction, state officials announced.

The township received a $393,575 municipal aid grant from the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) for the rehabilitation of Dutch Neck Road and Morris Avenue, according to New Jersey state officials.

It was one of 537 municipalities statewide sharing in $161.25 million in state grants, officials said.
The competitive Municipal Aid grant program attracted 681 applications from 544 different municipalities with a total of $377 million in work.

Project applications are evaluated and rated on their merits by an independent panel of New Jersey municipal engineers with the support of NJDOT. This process resulted in 538 awards to 537 municipalities, according to officials.

Officials said renewal of the 2016 Transportation Trust Fund made it possible to continue to award more than double the dollar value for the second straight year ($78.75 million to $161.25) and increase the number of recipients.

Under the Municipal Aid grant program, each county is apportioned a share of the total funding based on population and the number of local centerline miles. Municipalities compete for portions of their county’s share. NJDOT provides 75 percent of the grant amount when a town awards a contract and the remaining 25 percent upon completion of the project.

Of the $161.25 million awarded, there is $10 million allotted for municipalities qualifying for Urban Aid under state law, with the amounts determined by the Department of Community Affairs.

Applicants for Municipal Aid grants this year were submitted to NJDOT by October 2018 and have been judiciously reviewed. Within the Municipal Aid program there are seven project categories eligible for funding: Roadway Preservation, Roadway Safety, Quality of Life, Mobility, Bikeway, Pedestrian Safety, and Bridge Preservation. Past performance in connection with timely award of projects and project delivery were part of the evaluation of the proposals.

When evaluating applications, NJDOT also verifies if the municipality has adopted Complete Streets policies. Complete Streets policies establishes guidelines that require consideration be given to pedestrians and bicyclists when local transportation projects are being planned, designed, and built.