42 Roads Proposed To Be Paved In Bridgewater For 2024

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — Continuing to tackle roads in Bridgewater, the township proposed improving 42 roads as part of the township's $40 million 5-year road improvement plan.

Director of Municipal Services Thomas Genova and Township Engineer William Burr gave a presentation on the 2024 road program at the Jan. 18 Council meeting.

"To date we have repaved 200 roads which amounts to 30 percent of the Township-owned roads," said Genova. "This project is an exceptional success."

This year will mark the fourth year of the five-year plan.

"I am very pleased with the solid progress we have made as we begin the fourth year of our planned five-year Road Improvement Initiative," said Mayor Matthew Moench. "We are dedicated to improving our road infrastructure and how this positively impacts the everyday lives of our residents and taxpayers as they travel throughout town. Our list this year features the 42 roads we plan to improve this cycle. I should also note that we have several additional alternate roads that we can address should our budget facilitate them."

As part of the plan, Burr has divided Bridgewater into 6 road improvement sub-regions. The road projects in these sub-regions go out to bid as packages for both the engineering work and construction, which helps to create cost savings.

Burr broke down each sub-region and the roads being proposed for improvement:

Sub Region 1

• Jamestown Road
• Yorktown Road
• Lilac Court
• Acron Drive

Sub Region 2

• North Avenue
• Morris Street
• Andover Avenue
• Berwick Drive
• Roanoke Road

Sub Region 3

• Hill Lane
• Rolling Hills Road
• Brandywine Road
• Vicki Drive
• Candlewick Lane
• Part of Juniper Lane
• Love Road

Sub Region 4

• Long Road
• Plymouth Road
• Jeffrey Lane
• Ryan Way
• Starview Way
• Stella Drive
• Barbara Drive
• Catalpa Drive
• Lakeview Drive

Sub Region 5

• Birch Hill Drive
• Bittersweet Terrace
• Lawton Road
• Lawton Place
• Somerset Avenue

Sub Region 6

• Glen Road
• Saratoga Avenue
• Crest Drive
• Deerhead Drive
• Shady Lane
• Hayward Street
• Cathy Court
• Davis Court
• Bittle Court
• Perrine Road
• Weaver Drive

"This list represents a data-driven, science-based approach to strategizing for identifying the roads to be improved. We actively use our most recent road quality map, combined with a budget-conscious neighborhood-by-neighborhood approach to ensure that our residents’ tax dollars can go the farthest as we tackle roads that need the most improvement," said Moench.

Genova and Burr urged the Council to approve an $8 million bond in February to move forward with the plan to help get things rolling sooner and for a chance to save money.

"In order to continue this success it is imperative that we follow the same plan as previous years where we are able to start very early in the calendar year," said Genova. "This will allow for the best pricing on the project and also ensure that the project will be completed prior to late fall when the temperature drops and it is not optimal for asphalt construction."

Councilman Filipe Pedroso aired his concerns about passing the $8 million bond at the next Council meeting prior to the completion of the 2024 Township budget.

"To be asked to blindly agree and commit our taxpayers to pay back $8 million in bonding without knowing the state of the finances of the township for the coming year I view that as inappropriate," said Pedroso. "I would ask the administration … to provide us a budget as quickly as possible before I am asked to pass judgment."

While Councilman Michael Kirsh agreed that Pedroso raised some good points, he noted that this will be the fourth time the Council has passed the bond prior to the budget being completed.

"As occurred in previous years we will be asked to make the best decision we can with the information we have at the time with the idea that this is important to move quickly because if we wait until June, July, or August to even start this, this process… none of this work will be feasible or viable in calendar year ‘24," said Kirsh.

"I'm very satisfied with how it happened in 2023 and hopeful we can do something similar and reach similar success in 2024," said Kirsh of the road plan.

An ordinance to introduce the $8 million bond for the 2024 Road Plan is expected to be on the Feb. 1 Council agenda for a vote. A public hearing, a finalized list of the roads, and a final vote by the Council on the ordinance are expected at the Feb. 15 meeting.

Once the bond is approved the Township can begin going out to bid for the road projects.

As the Township awards engineering contracts for the roads projects, those roads will appear on the "Current Projects" tracking sheet under the "Road Projects" tab on www.OurBWRoads.com.

Residents can also see the list of completed roadways, and use the RoadBotics analysis platform to view the road quality maps.

"We want to assure our residents that our approach to choosing roads every year follows an exhaustive, painstaking analytic process," said Burr. "We look at the individual road quality scores, the distance to other roads needing remediation, proximity to both public and community facilities, and the overall square footage requiring remedy. We then group similarly scored roads and look for neighborhoods that we can package together to keep costs down as we go out to bid. This process has allowed us to keep our costs lower while realizing the improvement of over 200 roads since this program’s inception."

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