City Receives Grant for Beekman Road Improvements

The Department of Community Services has received a New Jersey Department of Transportation Municipal Aid program grant in the amount of $295,000 for improvements to Beekman Road.

Aaaron Schrager, assistant city engineer, said this is the fourth year Summit has received such a grant from the state. DCS has previously received grants for two phases of work on Hobart Avenue and for work on Woodland Avenue.

The planned improvements will be part of the 2010 capital budget and therefore will not be approved by the common council until summer 2010 at the earliest.

Schrager said the project, which includes new curbs, sidewalk repairs, sanitary sewer repair if necessary, drainage improvements and milling and paving, would not begin until fall 2010 or spring 2011.

“It’s been a long time coming,” he said, adding that most city road projects are these days.

Schrager said the project's total cost is estimated to be $900,000 but he said that is probably a little higher than it will actually cost.

NJ DOT has certain criteria municipalities must meet to receive grants. They include stipulations that a road involved in proposed plans must be a through street leading to a nearby school, must be a feeder street for a county road, and also must have a significant daily traffic average.

Summit also applied for a grant for road resurfacing to Kent Place Blvd.,which they were not awarded. Schrager said DCS will reapply for this project next year.

“We try to get the roads done an inexpensively as we can,” he said. “It takes a lot of balancing.”