Midland Park June 22, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 5 Bergen County is now in the process of assembling plans and specifications for the replacement of the bridge on Lake Avenue in Midland Park. Robert Mulder, a Bergen County engineer, explained that the specifications should be ready by the end of this month. The county anticipates that it will accept bids for the bridge replacement in July and August, and subsequently award the contract. The construction project will involve the removal of the existing bridge and the realignment of the replacement structure, Mulder said. The company that receives the contract for this project must adhere to the County prepares to work on Lake Avenue bridge Department of Environmental Protection’s restrictions for working within a stream. Mulder noted that the work schedule will be discussed with two nearby businesses, the A&P supermarket and Kuiken Brothers, which have Lake Avenue access points. The goal is to coordinate the construction schedule to minimize the amount of time the crews will be at work in the area. The engineer noted that the existing bridge is a brick and steel arch structure that was built in 1900. Two concrete sections were added in 1931, when a widening project also took place. In the 1990s, the A&P added a pedestrian bridge in the area to provide access to the supermarket’s parking lot. He explained that there was once a culvert farther away and a pond, for which Lake Avenue was named. Mulder said the stream now runs toward the bridge abutment and washes it out from time to time. According to Mulder, the existing bridge is undersized in terms of the weight of the vehicles it can accommodate. At present, the Lake Avenue bridge allows 17 ton, three axle box trucks, and 35 ton five axle trucks. Those limits, he said, should be 25 tons and 40 tons, respectively. The New Jersey Department of Transportation recently made approximately $29 million in aid available for bridge projects throughout the state, including the Lake Avenue project. The bridges that are slated for repair or replacement with DOT funding are rated structurally deficient, obsolete, or scour critical due to the amount of erosion that occurs around the structure of the bridge. The Midland Park Memorial Library will kick off its summer reading program, “One World, Many Stories,” with a program by the Red Storm Drum and Dance Troupe on June 21 at 3 p.m. Children of all ages are invited to participate in this Native American storytelling and musical performance. Summer reading program begins Registration for the summer program can be completed in the children’s room of the library, when children may stop by to receive their reading passports and begin a journey to the seven continents. The library is located at 250 Godwin Avenue.