New Providence Sidewalk Project Moves Forward With $180K Grant

Borough Council authorized bidding for a sidewalk project on Maple Street and Brookside Drive near on Monday night.

Councilman Jim Cucco said the council received a grant for $180,000 from the New Jersey Department of Transportation for this project. Therefore, the project will not directly impact borough finances.

“This is a great project. This is going to be done soon and from a safety standpoint, it’s critical,” said Councilman Bob Robinson. “I’m so happy this is being done. [Councilman] Rob [Munoz] and I have talked about traffic and the traffic study was done on Maple Street. The sidewalk program is going to be an exciting addition to this. If we keep the traffic under control, keep the speed limit down, have sidewalks for children to walk to school, that is a huge plus.”

Cucco said the council will advertise the bidding in local newspapers.

The project schedule is as follows:

Sept. 12 — Bids will be opened

Sept. 24 — Recommendation of award

Oct. 15 — Construction begins

Nov. 30 — Construction ends

Cucco said the construction state date and completion date are firm, according to the NJDOT. Therefore, that criteria must be met in order to continue with the DOT’s grant.

The grant criteria requires 40 hours of paperwork, which Cucco said will cost around $18,000, and also requires an inspector to be at the construction site for a total of 150 hours.

Cucco said the grant money will also cover expenses for the grant requirements.