Borough Engineer: Water Street Repairs Could be Done in 2-3 Weeks

The long-awaited repairs to Water Street in Tinton Falls could be done in 2-3 weeks according to Borough Engineer David Marks.

Marks addressed the road repairs during Tuesday night's Tinton Falls Council meeting and said the contractor is trying a new approach to complete the work.

Water Street was severely damaged by Hurricane Irene and the roadway has been closed since August. Flooding and heavy erosion by the nearby Pine Brook made the road unsafe for pedestrian and automobile traffic.

There have been several problems with the restoration of the road and stabilization of the stream embankment.

The most recent setback came when the contractor, , encountered dense clay, which restricted the depth of the aluminum sheets needed to reinforce the bank.

However, the borough engineer appear to have found a way to combat this problem and finish the work so the road can be reopened.

The following message was posted on the borough web site:

"The contractor and Borough Engineer have finalized an alternate retaining wall design to accommodate the dense clay which restricted the depth of embedment for the aluminum sheeting and prevented the completion of the project to date. The alternate design will allow the sheets to be driven to their maximum depth of 12 to 18 inches into the dense clay and provide sufficient long-term structural stability of the retaining wall system.  The additional materials for the alternate wall design have been ordered and are scheduled to arrive by April 2^nd.  At that same time, the contractor will be on-site to complete the retaining wall installation and reconstruct the impacted sections of Water Street."

Councilman Steven Schertz suggested putting language into future road projects to create penalties if work is not completed in a timely manner.

Borough Director of Law Brian Nelson said it is hard to enforce such language and that delays such as this can occur.

Marks said he and the contractor have not had discussions about extra costs for the borough for the project because of the changes and delays.

He said if anything concerning the cost of the project changes, he would let the council know.