Four Roads Approved To Be Done In 2014

Part of the 2014 Roselle Park Capital Budget included roads that are to be approved for repairs/work this year. Four roads throughout the borough are listed with one of them, Charles Street, having an additional $150,000 added to address storm sewer improvements that have been deteriorating for years. Giving concern that the worst case scenario of a storm sewer collapse might – at some point – occur, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Ken Blum stated, “Speaking with everybody, we feel it’s necessary to put that on there before it becomes a total major issue since it’s taking DEP (New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection) so long to review these things.”

The work on Charles Street, although a small street, was also a concern to the council since it is a connecting street to the Borough’s downtown and experiences highly traffic. First Ward Councilman Andrew Casais stated that the cost of the work is high for that street due to the high amount of cement work that will need to be addressed.

The four roads to be worked on in 2014 are:

STREET	DISTANCE	GRANT AMOUNT	TOTAL AMOUNT
West Colfax Avenue	Laurel Avenue to Pine Street (Phase I)	$225,000	$290,000
Amsterdam Avenue	Seaton Avenue to West Webster Avenue	$137,000	$170,000
East Clay Avenue	Sheridan Avenue to Bender Avenue	-	$47,000
Charles Street	Chestnut Street to Walnut Street	-	$198,000
Charles Street	Open Channel Storm Sewer Improvements	-	$150,000
		TOTAL	$855,000

Grants will pay for over 40% of the projects, with $493,000 coming from taxpayers.

Council also discussed projects that were tabled for another year due to budgetary constraints. The roads and areas, some of which have been on the project list for years, are provided below. They will be on the top of the list to be addressed next year, barring no other emergency repairs arise between now and then.

STREET/ROAD	DISTANCE	AMOUNT
Prospect Street	East Roselle Avenue to Roselle Park Border	$180,000
Pine Street	West Colfax Avenue to West Roselle Avenue	$155,000
Sheridan Avenue	East Westfield Avenue to Dead End	$115,000
Sherman Avenue	East Colfax Avenue to East Lincoln Avenue	$160,000
Hemlock Street	East Clay Avenue to East Grant Avenue	$135,000
Larch Street	West Colfax Avenue to West Lincoln Avenue	$130,000
Seaton Avenue	West Westfield Avenue to Faitoute Avenue	$193,000
Municipal Parking Lots	Repairs	$75,000
	TOTAL	$1,143,000

Based on the limited number of streets and roads that have been done annually in recent years, some of the streets on 2015’s proposed list will be delayed for, at least, another year.