State, county to share costs of road project

The Monmouth County Board of Freeholders adopted a resolution on Dec. 22 agreeing to fund a portion of the cost to reconstruct the intersection of Route 34 and Route 537 in Colts Neck.

Officials described that location as one of the most heavily traveled intersections in Monmouth County.

According to a press release, the costsharing agreement is needed because Route 34 is a state-owned highway and Route 537 belongs to the county. The county's portion of the project is deemed to be about $5.8 million of the $20.3 million cost of the remaining project. The state Department of Transportation (DOT) will fund $14.5 million, according to the agreement.

"This is truly an exciting day," said Freeholder Lillian G. Burry, who first sought the project's approval 10 years ago when she served as Colts Neck's mayor. "The need to improve this intersection was evident then and it is evident now. I am truly grateful."

The project will include the replacement of a bridge on Route 537 just west of Route 34. The bridge is considered structurally deficient by current design standards, said Joseph Ettore, the county's engineer. He said the county had wanted to replace the bridge years ago, but because of its proximity to Route 34 its design had to be linked to the larger project in order to determine how wide the bridge should be.

The project also includes the replacement of a bridge on Route 34 just north of the intersection, for which the state is picking up the tab. The preferred design is to create additional lanes on each approach of Route 34 and Route 537 to reduce traffic back-up during peak travel hours.

Because of the project's complexity, Ettore does not anticipate design work to be completed and construction to begin until 2013.

According to the agreement, the DOT will allow Monmouth County to use $3 million of its annual local aid for counties to pay toward the design of the project. In addition, any federal high priority project funds may be counted as well. The county will serve as lead agency for the project, according to the press release.

"This is a project the county has been supporting for many years and we have asked the state Department of Transportation to prioritize," Ettore said. "With money from the Transportation Trust Fund and also from federal resources, we are hoping the net outlay by the county will be zero."

The intersection of Route 34 and Route 537 sees the highest volume of any crossroads in the county involving a county road and a state road, Ettore said. Reconstruction is needed to ease not only traffic at this intersection, but along nearby roads motorists are using to avoid the intersection.