Freehold Township Gets $400K From NJ To Resurface Center Street

FREEHOLD, NJ - Freehold Township residents should expect repaving work in the area next year, thanks to new funding secured from the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT).

Municipal officials confirmed to Patch the acquisition of $400,000 from the NJDOT’s Local Freight Impact Fund (LFIF), aimed to provide aid to counties and municipalities to address the impacts of freight travel in local communities and on local transportation infrastructure. Freehold Township sought eligibility and a grant for the resurfacing of Center Street in the amount of $471,000, according to Peter R. Valesi, Freehold Township’s administrator.

“The project is currently in the concept phase, since we were awaiting funding,” Valesi told Patch in an email. “Now that we have received the funding, the project will be fully designed, publicly bid and will be a 2022 project. The grant requires the project to be completed within 36 months.”

Center Street runs from Kozloski Road to the municipal boundary with Freehold Borough. A traffic count and analysis showed that approximately 40 percent of all vehicles are classified as "heavy vehicles,” Valesi said.

In Freehold Township, access to the street is provided to the County Highway Department, the Iron Mountain document storage facility, Freehold Borough DPW and multiple light industrial facilities on Ginesi Drive.

You can see how much other municipalities recieved from the $30.1 million in total funding here.

Of the 33 projects funded by the grant, there are two truck safety and mobility projects, two bridge preservation projects, and 29 pavement preservation projects.

"The program helps New Jersey’s municipalities fund projects that emphasize and enhance the safe movement of large truck traffic, renew aging structures that carry large truck traffic, promote economic development, and support new transportation opportunities without the need for additional property taxes," the state said in a news release.

In other news, questions have started to arise regarding how Freehold Township will spend its allotted $3.4 million in funding from President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan package. Valesi says that the township expects to receive 50 percent of the funds in 2021. However, it remains to be seen how the municipality will spend the cash, given that “there are many facts still coming to light on the ARP Funding,” according to the business administrator.

Read more: Freehold Twp Will Get $3.4M From Latest COVID Relief Bill

“Guidance for the allowable use of this funding has not yet been established,” Valesi said. “Accordingly, we are not considering the funding in our budget plans this year until we understand the constraints of its allowable uses.”