Belleville, Nutley To Get State Funds For Road Improvements

BELLEVILLE, NJ — Belleville and Nutley will be among the New Jersey towns getting a piece of a $161 million state funding package, officials announced Tuesday.

In all, 541 cities and towns across the state will get funds from the Fiscal Year 2022 Municipal Aid grants, according to a joint statement from Gov. Phil Murphy and New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) Commissioner Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti.

The funds will be used to advance road, bridge, safety and quality-of-life improvements throughout the state, officials said.

Belleville will get $668,869 to make roadway improvements on Harrison Street, Belleville Avenue and Sanford Avenue, a state document shows.

Nutley will get $461,269 to carry out a "roadway project" on Chestnut Street.

According to state officials:

“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.”

This year’s round of funding attracted 625 applications from 547 different municipalities, with a total of $363 million requested and $161.25 million awarded. Project applications were evaluated and rated on their merits by NJDOT staff and reviewed by an independent panel of New Jersey municipal engineers. When evaluating applications, the NJDOT also verifies if the municipality has adopted a Complete Streets policy, officials said.

“These funds are crucial to municipalities for the completion of projects that improve quality of life and safety for New Jersey residents,” Gov. Murphy said.

“I congratulate all municipalities that have received grants and look forward to them putting these dollars to use,” Murphy said.

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