Lawrence Township has been awarded a $500,000 state grant to pay for the repaving of Devon Avenue, Irwin Place and Smithfield Avenue.
Lawrence Township is one of 541 municipalities whose Municipal Aid grant program application has been approved by the New Jersey Department of Transportation (DOT). The grant program is funded by the state’s Transportation Trust Fund.
“This is good news,” Municipal Manager Kevin Nerwinski said. “This (grant) amount is about what Lawrence has received in other years. I continue to believe it will really help us to have better control over funding. We will not have to go out for a bond ordinance.”
Municipal governing bodies may authorize a bond ordinance to pay for costly items, such as road projects and new equipment.
Township officials will prepare bid specifications and seek bids for the Devon Avenue, Irwin Place and Smithfield Avenue paving project. The Lawrence Township Council will award a contract to the successful bidder, and the work will begin next year.
Lawrence Township is one of 12 Mercer County municipalities to be awarded a grant under the Municipal Aid grant program. The Mercer County municipalities received a combined $6.3 million in state funding for their respective road projects.
The Municipal Aid grant program received 625 applications from 547 towns by the July 1 deadline. The applications were reviewed by DOT staff and then reviewed by a panel of New Jersey municipal engineers.
DOT grants are “crucial” to towns so they may complete projects that improve the quality of life and safety for residents, Gov. Phil Murphy said in a statement.
“I congratulate all municipalities that have received grants and look forward to them putting these dollars to use,” Murphy said in the statement.
