If you’ve been traveling around Highland Park and thinking that more and more roads look relatively new, and are a pleasure to drive on, let us reassure you – no, that is not your imagination.
How does a small Borough, with a limited municipal budget, manage to repave over two dozen stretches of road in three years – nearly half of all the streets in the town?
As Borough Administrator Teri Jover explains, the Borough was able to accomplish all this work by astute stewardship of funding from three sources, matched when needed with Borough funds;
- State funding (NJ Department of Transportation);
- Middlesex County funding for repaving Woodbridge Ave, a county highway;
- PSE&G funded repaving of roads dug up by them for infrastructure upgrades (no funding match required).
The Borough is aware that there are still roads in town that need repaving. We haven’t achieved road nirvana just yet. And for those living on roads not recently repaved, the bumps and blights are an eyesore and an unpleasant drive.
Yet the record of the past three years should make clear that the Borough of Highland Park cares a great deal about its roads and draws on a bunch of sources to upgrade them. So stay tuned for more road repavings in the months and years ahead.
"I am proud of Highland Park's consistent focus on road repavings, which took place over the past three years," said Mayor Elsie Foster. "This work represents our commitment to carefully maintaining our infrastructure, improving the quality of life in town, and leveraging our limited budget dollars for maximum effect. I commend our Borough Administrator for her strategic stewardship of our roads and the members of the Council for overseeing these efforts over the long term."
In the current year alone, the Borough has arranged the following road repavings:
- No. 10th Ave (Abbott St to Raritan Ave)
- So. 10th Ave (Raritan Ave to Woodbridge Ave)
- Lexington Ave (Raritan Ave to Municipal Border)
- Alcazar Ave (Central Ave to Cherry St)
- So. 1st Ave (Johnson St to Valentine St)
- Riverview Ave (Valentine Street to easterly terminus)
- Washington Ave (Raritan Ave to Edison border)
- Exeter Street (Parker Rd to Cherry St)
- Donaldson St (Braun Ave to So. 5th Ave - half width)
- Braun Ave (Valentine St to Graham St - full width; Graham St to Mansfield St - half width; Mansfield St to Harper Pl - full width)
- Benner St (So. 4th Ave to So. 6th Ave - half width)
In the prior two years, the Borough arranged for repaving these roads:
- Raritan Ave. (between Second and Fifth Avenues)
- Montgomery Street (Second Ave to North 5th Ave)
- Magnolia Street (South First Ave to North 5th Ave)
- Benner Street (South First Ave to North 4th Ave)
- Felton Ave.
- Barnard Street
- Lincoln Ave (Between Lawrence Ave and North 4th Ave.)
- Cedar Ave. (Raritan Ave to Valley Place)
- South First Ave. (Raritan Ave to Valentine Ave)
- South Second Ave (Raritan Ave to Donaldson Street)
- South Third Ave.(Raritan Ave to Donaldson Street)
- South Fourth Ave ((Raritan Ave to Becker Street)
- Mansfield Ave.
- Woodbridge Ave (between Volkert Street and Fox Street)
- South Seventh Ave (between Benner St. and Eden Ave.)
- North Ninth Ave (between Raritan and Abbott Avenues
- Cliff Court
- Donaldson Street (half)
