$500K Brown Avenue Improvement Will Help Traffic, Safety

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — Hillsborough officials approved a plan to improve Brown Avenue and in turn the public safety in the township on Tuesday after Governor Phil Murphy released $500,000 of funding for the project.

Hillsborough Mayor Doug Tomson noted that this improvement will "certainly be safer for all residents of Hillsborough and anyone who takes 206."

A major concern came to light at the Somerville Business Park at 152 Route 206 South where trucks were unable to make a left turn onto the highway and as a result were using the back exit onto Roycefield Road placing these trucks on both County and Township roads.

With the funding the developer has agreed, at no cost to the township, to fully improve, extend and connect Brown Avenue to Route 206 so as to create a safer means of ingress and egress to the property, according to the resolution unanimously passed by the township committee.

"The funding that finally has been released from reserve by the Murphy Administration will allow for the first steps to be taken on the construction of the Brown Avenue extension," said Senator Kip Bateman (R-16). "When completed, this project will increase the safety of the hundreds of thousands of annual visitors who cross the road that runs through Duke Farms."

"It’s a great first step toward addressing the problem of dangerous truck traffic on Dukes Parkway West that poses such a serious risk to local residents and visitors to Duke Farms," said Michael Catania, Executive Director of Duke Farms.

The $500,000 appropriation for the Brown Ave. Extension is among $235 million of appropriations in the FY 2020 State Budget that Murphy held in reserve through Executive Order #73 on June 30, 2019. The final $121 million of reserved funds was unfrozen on Jan. 23 following the release of the December 2019 Revenue Report by the State Treasurer, according to Bateman.

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