September 22, 2010 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 9 Council will not provide funds for road widening by Frank J. McMahon The Mahwah Township Council has decided not to provide the funding that would be needed to widen the Miller Road and Franklin Turnpike intersection. Bergen County officials want to improve that intersection by widening from adding left turn lanes both sides of 9-22-10 Joan it and Janine Miller Road. The county also wants to upgrade the traffic MahwahDayBanner(9-22-10) signal at that intersection. 6 Mike Kelly of Boswell McClave Engineering, the towncol x .75 ship’s engineering firm, described the county’s plans for the project at the last public council meeting. He advised the governing body that the widening project has been scaled back from the original plan of widening an area along Franklin Turnpike from King Street to Stephens Lane, to the latest plan to widen an area from the police station driveway to the middle of the Wachovia Bank property and up the hill on Miller Road. Left turn lanes would be added to Miller Road. To accomplish that, easements would have to be obtained from the property owners in that area. Those easements would be required from the two gas stations at that intersection and from the owner of the strip mall on the north side of Miller Road. Kelly advised that the township would be required to provide the funding for the stamped concrete sidewalks, the lights in the area, benches, trash containers, the cost of obtaining the easements, any streetscape improvements, and for providing traffic directors during the construction phase of the project. Kelly said that cost, plus the estimated $100,000 cost of the engineering design, could amount to a cost to the township of between $500,000 and $600,000. Kelly further advised that, if the township decided not to proceed with the road widening project, the county intends to replace the traffic light and maybe obtain easements at the four corners of the intersection. He confirmed that the council’s decision about whether to participate in this project would not affect the township’s plans to seek bids for the improvement of Veterans Park, which is located at that intersection. Mayor Richard Martel said he continues to believe that the plan to improve the intersection, which was developed as a county construction project with a limited municipal funding contribution, and with input from the township council, local property owners, and the township’s Beautification Committee, is still a good plan. But he confirmed the position he took on the project in 2008, when he recommended the project be postponed because the county has not funded it. At that time, he wrote to the township council and explained, “The township is faced with significant costs if the project were to proceed at this time without a commitment from the county to pick up full funding of the project.” At the last public meeting of the council, Martel said he still stands by that position, and the council unanimously agreed with him. “The issue is the lack of funds. I agree with the mayor that it is a good project, but we can’t fund it,” said Council President John DaPuzzo. Councilman Samuel Alderisio urged Kelly to have the county install a traffic signal with left turn signals in case the intersection is ever widened for left turn lanes in the Celebrate Mahwah Day • September 25 future. He also emphasized the need to change the location where the New Jersey Transit bus stops adjacent to Veterans Park to a location farther north of the intersection to avoid the traffic backups that now occur at that intersection when a bus stops at the park. Councilwoman Lisa DiGiulio said she opposed the project because she is concerned about the traffic safety aspect of widening Franklin Turnpike at the police station and tapering it back down to the existing roadway width at the bank property. She said she wants a comprehensive plan for the widening of that roadway before she would support the plan. Following an in-depth discussion, the council took a straw poll vote that showed no interest in spending the money that would be necessary to have the county improve the intersection. ® MetLife Home Loans Competitive Rates and Fees Time to Purchase or Refinance Call for your personal FREE mortgage evaluation! Mortgage Consultant Jessica S. 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