New Jersey municipalities receive $161.3M in grants for transportation projects

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New Jersey municipalities will receive $161.6 million in state Municipal Aid grants for fiscal year 2020.

The money was awarded to 542 cities and towns for transportation projects.

Grants were awarded in seven categories: bikeway, bridge preservation, mobility, pedestrian safety, roadway preservation, roadway safety, and quality of life.

The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) Local Aid staff and an independent panel of New Jersey municipal engineers evaluated applications to verify if municipalities have adopted Complete Streets policies, guidelines that require consideration be given to pedestrians and bicyclists when local transportation projects are planned, and examined past performance regarding projects.

Municipalities compete for portions of their county’s share of funding under the Municipal Aid grant program. The portion is determined by the number of local centerline miles and population.

Grants cover 75 percent of a contract while municipalities pay the remainder.

Earlier this year, New Jersey moved the grant cycle from spring to November to better align the state’s construction season with municipal budget cycles.

“This change, along with NJDOT’s new Local Aid Resource Center, are making a real difference in providing municipalities the resources to improve safety and increase the reliability of the State’s transportation system at all levels of government,” Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti, NJDOT commissioner, said.