Infrastructure & Safety Grants Will Help Replace Park Avenue Bridge; Improve Edison Safe Corridor
(18TH DISTRICT) – Assemblymen Patrick J. Diegnan, Jr. and Peter J. Barnes III Tuesday commended the awarding of more than $3.5 million in transportation grants for infrastructure and safety improvements across the 18th Legislative District.
“The Park Avenue Bridge is antiquated, decrepit and in desperate need of replacement,” said Diegnan (D-Middlesex). “Thanks to this $3.5 million grant award, South Plainfield will now be able to move forward with plans to replace the span.”
The $3.5 million bridge replacement grant comes courtesy of a Local Aid Infrastructure Fund grant, which is a part of the state Transportation Trust Fund-supported Local Aid program.
Additionally, the Edison “Safe Corridor” section of U.S. 1, from approximately milepost 27.90 to 30.37, will be receiving a $68,094 Safe Corridor grant.
Established in 2003, New Jersey’s Safe Corridor initiative doubles fines for a variety of driving offences, including speeding and aggressive driving, on roughly 14 ten mile sections of state roadways, based on statistics showing a crash rate 50 percent over the state rate and 1,000 or more crashes over three years. The increased fines, coupled with improved safety initiatives – such as signal timing modification and pavement marking – are designed to reduce the number of accidents that occur.
“As a corridor state, much of New Jersey’s prosperity comes from the safety and efficiency of our bridges and highways,” said Barnes (D-Middlesex). “This grant money will help make needed infrastructure and safety upgrades that otherwise would have been difficult to achieve in the current economic climate.”