Township to act on unsafe sidewalks

LONG HILL TWP. Dangerous sidewalks have caught the attention of Township Committee members, who discussed the matter at their Wednesday, Sept. 24 meeting, with emphasis on walkways on Long Hill and Northfield roads, leading up to Millington School.

The sidewalks need to be replaced. They are becoming a hazard, said Department of Public Works (DPW) Director Tom Sweeney.

Township Administrator Neil Henry said the town could transfer money from its operating budget after Nov. 1 or declare an emergency to the state and dip into its surplus. The town would have to pay off the money used to fix the sidewalks before budgeting for 2015.

Henry and Sweeney were not optimistic that anything could be done during the 2014 budgeted year. However, Sweeny seemed a bit more hopeful of tackling the project in 2015.

We already did road analysis for 2015, and Im going to come under with my roads. We have caught up with a lot of roads and paving, so what I originally estimated is a little higher than what were going to be, so we might be able to work these sidewalks in, said Sweeny

Sweeny gave some insight on why it is difficult to fund sidewalk repairs, pointing out that it is harder to get grants to fix sidewalks than it is for roads, and that the town was unsuccessful in obtaining a sidewalk grant last year.

Sweeney said that when applying for the grants, he had estimates of under $200,000 to fix the sidewalks. The sidewalks in question are black top and would have to be replaced with cement. There are also some parts that are high up and would have to be leveled and supported with a retaining wall.

They need to be replaced. They were originally cement sidewalks that were replaced by the road department in the 70s due to a lot of tree roots coming through. Back then they replaced it with black top, probably for cost savings. It has been 40 years for a lot of them, said Sweeney.

There were small steps introduced on what the DPW and town could do in the interim.

Sweeney provided two quick remedies that would fix a small portion of the problem. He said that the DPW could patch whatever potholes are in the sidewalks for now, as well as put up a barrier on Northfield Road to make it safe for both pedestrians and drivers.

Read this article:
Township to act on unsafe sidewalks