Scotch Plains, Fanwood Awarded State Money for Street Projects

Scotch Plains and Fanwood have both been awarded grants from the state Department of Transportation for street projects.

NJDOT made the announcement Wednesday. Scotch Plains will receive $189,000 for work on a portion of Jerusalem Road. Fanwood will get $275,000 for improvements on Watson Road. In total, NJDOT awarded nearly $104 million to 457 municipalities.

The money comes from the state's municipal aid grants, which are intended to provide property tax relief and create jobs by directly funding street improvement and safety projects.

According to a release from NJDOT, the departments Fiscal Year 2010 Capital Program provides an additional $25 million in municipal aid, 31 percent more than the $78.75 million provided in FY 2009.  

"Every dollar in municipal aid is a dollar that doesn't have to come from residents' property taxes," NJDOT Commissioner Stephen Dilts said in a statement. "These are projects that otherwise would add to the local tax bill, or perhaps have to be postponed for lack of funds."

The Municipal Aid program is directly funded by the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF). NJDOT reports that it was able to increase the municipal aid awards through the strategic reallocation of existing TTF funds.

According NJDOT's release announcing the awards, the department allots each county a specific funding amount based on population and municipal road mileage. It distributes funds to towns through a competitive process based on field investigations, engineering evaluations, and assessments of proposed projects. NJDOT provides 75 percent of the grant amount when the contract is awarded and the remaining 25 percent upon project completion.