By: Lauren T. Agnew
Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. announced the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority has awarded Essex County two grants totaling $46 million grant to modernize and update 54 intersections in nine Essex County municipalities on Monday, March 13th.
The two grants – for 24,830,00 and $21,735,000 for a total of $46.565 million – is the most significant safety-oriented award ever given by the NJTPA through its Local Safety Program.
“The NJTPA plays an important role, overseeing the investment of billions of dollars in our region’s transportation infrastructure, and virtually all projects are designed with safety as a top priority.
Receiving the largest safety grant ever awarded by the authority and the improvements that it will support represent a great investment in our ongoing initiative to enhance the safety of our pedestrians and motorists,” DiVincenzo said.
“Our county roads are the lifeline for our residents and businesses, and making sure we have the most up-to-date equipment will make our roads more walkable and drivable, contribute to our quality of life and enhance property values,” he added.
The needs of each intersection will be addressed.
This includes, but is not limited to, new state-of-the-art traffic signal equipment, LED lights which shine brighter and are more energy efficient, new signage and roadway striping, backup power to ensure signals begin working if there is an electrical failure, and a camera system to enable traffic signals along shared corridors to be synchronized to maximize traffic flow.
The award of the grant allows Essex County to hire traffic engineers to review each intersection and create plans to upgrade them.
Construction will commence after each plan is finalized.
The roadways where intersections are being upgraded include Bloomfield Avenue traveling through Newark, Bloomfield and Glen Ridge, Ridgewood Avenue in Glen Ridge, Grove Street in East Orange, Newark, and Irvington, Irvington Avenue in South Orange and Newark, and Clinton Avenue in Irvington.
The breakdown of intersections in each municipality is as follows:
There are 17 intersections in Newark, 13 intersections in Irvington, ten intersections in East Orange, five intersections in Bloomfield, five intersections in Glen Ridge, two in South Orange, one in Maplewood, and one that includes Newark and Belleville.
The NJTPA oversees regional transportation planning and annually authorizes more than $1 billion in federal surface transportation funding for 13 counties in northern and central New Jersey.
The Executive Committee provides guidance and leadership to the entire Board on various planning, policy, and administrative issues.
It meets as needed to review financial, personnel, and policy matters.
Board membership is an uncompensated position.
IMAGE CREDIT: Google