Funding will cover extra road repairs
Holmes Mill, Sharon Station roads among those to be fixed
BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer

UPPER FREEHOLD - Some local roads may be improved this fall.

At the June 21 Township Committee meeting, Township Administrator Barbara Bascom said Township Engineer Glenn Gerken has provided her with a list of roads that need work.

Bascom said that since the township has money left over from a previous bond ordinance, it could improve extra roads if the ordinance is amended to include them. She said such an amendment would not change the amount of the bond used in total but would change the allocation.

Among the roads Gerken listed for improvements are Holmes Mill Road from Stacey Drive to Polhemustown Road, Potts Road, Millstream Road, East Branch Road, Roosevelt Road, and Cliffwood Road and Lonnie Drive in the Lynwood Estates subdivision.

Bascom said that Gerken recommended using money from the state Transportation Trust Fund for Holmes Mill Road, since it is the only road on the list that connects county roads, which are Route 539 and Route 537. She said the township could piggyback work on Holmes Mills Road with culvert work the county is doing on the road.

Committeeman David Reed suggested that Gerken look at the section of Sharon Station Road that connects county routes 526 and 524, as it is also a county connector road. Reed said that section of Sharon Station Road is in "horrible shape."

"The road has ditches running alongside it, and it's falling in," he said. "Every year we patch it, and it's just falling in."

Committeeman Robert Faber noted that the section of that road has more traffic than Holmes Mills Road.

Bascom said she could prepare a resolution to submit an application for Transportation Trust Fund money for that part of Sharon Station Road for the next meeting of the governing body on July 12.

The Lynwood Estates roads would require a new 2-inch topcoat, according to Bascom.

Deputy Mayor William Miscoski, who chaired the meeting in the absence of Mayor Stephen Fleischacker, said that the Lynwood development is not that old.

Bascom said that Gerken would like to see the Lynwood roads repaired before they get worse. She said it would cost less to fix the roads now than it would to make larger repairs in the future.

Bascom said that a few years ago, residents of Wygant Road submitted a petition to the Township Committee asking for an unpaved section of their road to remain that way. Now, she said, all but three residents on that road have asked for the unpaved section to be paved.

Miscoski said that, in his opinion, stone dust could be placed in the unpaved section.

"It's hard as a rock and won't need to be paved," he said, adding that the road needs millings and must also be scraped weekly.

Faber said the unpaved section needs widening and noted that planned recreation fields in the area would increase the need to widen the road.

Bascom said the township would see if parking for the new fields could be placed on nearby Jonathan Holmes Road, which is paved.