Township Looks To Improve Roads Through Municipal Aid From State DOT

The state Department of Transportation (DOT) has money readily available for municipal aid and Lacey Township is looking into applying for two road projects.

The DOT has approximately $80 million available and 10 percent will be going to municipalities, Township Administrator Veronica Laureigh said.

Casey Parker, Director of the Public Works department, provided the committee with a memo of four areas that he felt could use attention, he said.

The committee agreed to apply to receive aid to make improvements to Lakeside Drive and a cluster of roadways in Bayberry Village.

Applications need to be submitted by Sept. 23 and the township should hear back from the DOT by the end of the year, Parker said.

“It’s grant funding that we’ve always been successful with,” Parker said.

The township has been receiving municipal aid money from the DOT every year since 1991, Parker said.

“It’s something we’ve been successful in the past and hopefully will be in the future,” he said.

Now that the committee has decided to go with Lakeside Drive and Bayberry Village, the township can crunch some numbers and come up with an approximate cost for the projects.

“Now that we have a definite direction, we could dive into what we need and include it in the application,” Parker said.

The cost for an engineer to submit paperwork will be $1,200 per grant application.

The following projects were included in Parker’s memo to the committee:

Lakeside Drive

This project would take care of Lakeside Drive North running along the Lake Barnegat beach area, and end at Lakeside Drive South.

Although Parker did not provide preferences in his memo, he said the Lakeside Drive project is an important one.

Lakeside Drive has the same characteristics as Lake Barnegat Drive, Parker said. The road is loosing layers as it continues to peeling up, he said.

The from the south to east eliminating the outfall into the lake. This project would be following up on the county’s work with resurfacing, Parker said.

There are also grant opportunities for walkways with a concrete curb and sidewalk. Parker would like to put sidewalks in from the public bathrooms, past the beach, out to Lakeside Drive South, he said.

Bayberry Village

This project is a duplication of last years request, Parker said.

“You know, Bayberry Village has been hanging around a long time with the drainage issues,” Committeeman Dave Most said.

The area has serious issues when it downpours, Most said.

The entire area of Bayberry Village needs work from the catch basins, storm drains, and retrofit to repaving.

Cedar Drive

The roadway from Cedar Drive to Oak Street, to the very end by Laurel Harbor is in bad shape and in desperate need of resurfacing, Parker said. This project would also include Maple Road, which runs off of south of Cedar Drive.

Cluster of Roads

In the area of the old Catholic church, there is a cluster of roads in need of resurfacing and drainage work.

This project would include Lane Place, Falkenburgh Avenue, Davis Avenue, William Street and John Street. This work would be a continuation of a project the township started approximately five years ago, Parker said.

The township was doing roadwork in this area in phases but put the project on pause due to the economy, Parker said.

“We had to make a choice of which capital projects we were going to do,” he said.

The network of streets needs pavement overlay and areas have drainage problems that need to be identified and corrected, Parker said.