On Thursday, the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) announced it had awarded more than 40 Local Bridges Fund grants to help counties throughout the state maintain local bridges.
The grants totaling more than $47 million will be used to repair, reconstruct, and replace bridges with structural deficiencies, the NJDOT said. The 42 grants award each county at least $1 million plus additional funds based on the bridge’s deck area. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said the funds were part of the Local Bridge Fund, which is funded by the Transportation Trust Fund. Each of the state’s 21 counties received grants, the NJDOT said.
“The Murphy Administration is committed to improving the quality of life in New Jersey, and the Local Bridge Fund program does that as part of NJDOT’s Commitment to Communities,” NJDOT Commissioner Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti said. “By providing grants to improve county-owned bridges throughout the state, we are helping local governments make critical infrastructure investments that improve the reliability of our statewide transportation network without having to impact local property taxes.”
The grants are administered by the NJDOT Division of Local Aid and Economic Development and will be evaluated by the NJDOT’s Division of Bridge Engineering and Infrastructure Management. Local aid grants represent a significant part of the NJDOT’s support for local systems, which also includes municipal aid, local projects, regional planning and project development and transportation alternatives projects.
The awards included $2,787,059 for Bergen County – $1.5 million for the Pulis Avenue Bridge over Ho-Ho-Kus Brook, and $1.287 million for the Kinderkamack Road Bridge over Pascack Brook; more than $3 million for Cape May County to replace the 96t Street Bridge over the Great Channel Bascule; and $1,549,587 for Warren County – $400,000 to reconstruction WC Bridge #2101644 over the Pohatcong Creek, and $1.149 million to reconstruction WC Bridge #2101903 over Lopatcong Creek.