When asked how he came up with the list of streets to include in the current roadway resurfacing project, West New York Mayor Albio Sires said, “By riding on them.”
Although this statement is true, the mayor did have some help in coming up with the names of the streets. Sires said that the commissioners were also responding to numerous complaints from residents who also had a hard time driving on many of the town’s streets.
However, at least 12 of the town’s worst streets will no longer be a problem for residents by the end of the summer. The Board of Commissioners held a special meeting on July 22 to award a bid for the town’s 2002 Roadway Resurfacing Project to AJM Contractors, Inc., of Passaic for about $1 million.
“We are hoping that this project will start soon,” said West New Mayor Albio Sires after the meeting. “This is the most significant roadway project the town has undertaken in a couple of decades.”
The worst streets
This project will include 12 of the town’s worst streets. In February, the town also had awarded a public service agreement to their engineering firm, Schoor DePalma, based in Parsippany, to take an inventory of the city. According to Sires, this inventory was taken to identify the town’s worst streets.
“The roads are eroding,” said Sires after the bond ordinance was passed. “Because we had such a difficult winter, a lot of our roads need work.”
The project is being paid in part from money set aside in a $4.5 million bond ordinance passed in August 2001. The town also received about $300,000 from the State Department of Transportation to repave.
Sires said that the town receives money from the state each year for resurfacing.
The streets included in the project are 50th Street from Bergenline Avenue to Broadway; 55th Street along the west side of Boulevard East to Palisade Avenue; 56th Street from Bergenline Avenue to Hudson Avenue; Park Avenue from 60th Street to the Guttenberg boundary; Schaley Place from Jackson Street to Polk Street; Madison Street between 59th and 60th streets; 61st Street from Kennedy Boulevard to Bergenline Avenue; Jefferson Street from 54th Street to 57th Street; 62nd Street from Kennedy Boulevard to Adams Street; 64th Street from Park Avenue to Bergenline Avenue; 59th Street from Kennedy Boulevard to Bergenline Avenue; 53rd Street from Bergenline Avenue to Palisade Avenue; Harrison Street from 61st Street to 62nd Street and Hudson Avenue from 62nd Street to 63rd Street.
Bond money
The bond ordinance, approved in August 2001, allocated $1.6 million for street resurfacing. The money from this bond ordinance will also be used to purchase new dump trucks, snow plows and salters for the town’s Department of Public Works. The DPW will also see $800,000 in renovations made to the DPW garage, which will not only improve the look of the old building, but also allow for more room to store this new equipment.
Saint Mary’s Park, on 67th and Jackson streets, will see $900,000 in renovations. The remainder of the money from the bond went toward a new communication system for the police department and will go toward renovations to City Hall, including new speakers and other equipment in the town’s court chambers.
This roadway resurfacing project will also include the planting of new trees.
According to Sires, each bid that goes out for street resurfacing also goes out with the planting of trees.