MARLBORO – Municipal officials have come out in support of a project that is eventually expected to result in significant improvements to the Route 34 corridor in Monmouth and Middlesex counties.
At a meeting on July 13, members of the Marlboro Township Council passed a resolution supporting a state Department of Transportation (DOT) project that is tentatively scheduled to begin in late 2020.
The DOT is planning improvements on Route 34 between Route 537 in Colts Neck and Route 9 in Old Bridge. Route 34 passes through a small stretch of Marlboro between Deer Path and Woodcliff Boulevard, according to the resolution.
According to a DOT information sheet, the Route 34 project will encompass almost 14 miles between Route 537 and Route 9. The DOT states that “the primary purpose of the project is to reconstruct the pavement in the project area due to the deteriorated pavement condition.
“Secondary goals include upgrading traffic signals, repairing bridges and drainage structures, and performing curb and sidewalk work. The original pavement was constructed between 1928 and 1930. Over the years, the road has been widened and the concrete has been overlaid with asphalt,” according to the DOT.
Preliminary engineering of the project is estimated to begin this fall. Final design is expected to begin in the spring of 2019. Construction is expected to begin in the fall of 2020, based on funding availability, according to the DOT.
Marlboro’s municipal engineer, in consultation with the Marlboro Police Department, “has reported that the DOT improvements as proposed in concept serve the best interests, safety and welfare of the citizens of Marlboro and Monmouth County,” according to the resolution, and for those reasons, the council granted its support for the Route 34 improvements proposed by the DOT.
In other business on July 13, council members passed a resolution authorizing the emergency cleaning of a septic tank at a property that was discharging raw sewage from a private septic system into a storm sewer.
As part of the action, the council placed a $1,063 lien on a property on Mohican Trail. The lien consists of $678 in municipal employee costs and $385 that was paid to Russell Reid, of Keasby, the company that remediated the discharge of waste.
According to a document signed by Business Administrator Jonathan Capp, on June 9, the Monmouth County Department of Health reported that the property owner, in failing to maintain his private septic system, violated state law by discharging a pollutant without possessing a permit issued by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
Capp said the property owner “has previously been cited for discharging waste into the municipal storm water system, and in failing to maintain the septic tank is in violation of a municipal court order. The DEP previously advised the township that it must take immediate steps to resolve a future occurrence, or be faced with substantial penalties …”
Emergency repairs were authorized and completed and that cost is the basis for the lien that was placed on the property by the council’s action.
