200 Roads Improved As Bridgewater's 3rd Year Of Road Plan Closes Out

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — Two hundred roads have been reconstructed or repaved in Bridgewater as the third year of the township's $40 million 5-year road improvement plan comes to a close.

Director of Municipal Services Tom Genova and Township Engineer Bill Burr provided an update on the 5-year plan at the Thursday night Council meeting.

The 200 roads repaved since 2020 are equal to 30 percent of all Bridgewater roads in the township.

At the end of 2020, the township launched the plan to spend $8 million each year over the next 5 years to remedy the roadways. The target was to improve half of the township's 600 roadways or 250 to 300 roads by the end of the plan.

"This is an exceptional accomplishment that the administration and the engineering division are extremely proud of," said Genova.

Looking ahead, Burr suggested that the council begin to start shifting gears to preserving roadways.

"Once we get through the next year or two with more of the road reconstruction and more of the road resurfacing projects, one of the goals should be to also start implementing a pavement preservation program," said Burr. "That is a cost-effective way of sealing our road surfaces and buying more life out of them."

Mayor Matthew Moench attributed much of the success of the program to the Council approving road construction projects earlier in the year to get more competitive pricing and move the projects along quickly.

"The accomplishments we have done is because this Council took the foresight at the beginning of the year to make sure we were able to move projects early. Being able to get roadwork out to bid at an early timeframe allows us to get better pricing and get the work done and more work done than if it was delayed," said Moench.

Township Administrator Michael Pappas said Moench has already received a draft list of roads to be approved and tackled in 2024.

"Once we get pricing finalized we will be coming to the Council in the next 30 days," said Pappas.

Council President Michael Kirsh thanked Genova and Burr for their hard work and "considerable impact on our community."

Kirsh noted that the roadways listed in the worst condition are becoming fewer and fewer each season.

"And hopefully we can pivot to preservation so that we can get as much time as possible out of these roads and ultimately have repairs that are less onerous than we have been through in the past," said Kirsh.

The township has a website, ourbwroads.com, where residents can learn more about the 5-year plan, see how their roads rank as far as worst to best, and also see upcoming projects.

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