Mayor Heck Takes DOT Issues to the Governor's Office

The borough is taking its issues with the state Department of Transportation in regards to lack of maintenance and other matters to the governor’s office.  

Mayor Rose Heck stated Tuesday night that she will meet with Governor Chris Christie’s Chief of Staff next week to discuss various matters including one of the borough’s biggest issues – the water basin at the base of Route 17 south at Franklin Avenue.

The DOT converted a traffic island into a fenced-in water basin more than a year ago and the property continues to show signs of lack of maintenance with vegetation growing as high as six feet at times which

Borough Engineer Ken Job has continuously been trying to get the DOT to address the problems with the drainage at the site which could possibly be a threat to the borough’s athletic field which is located adjacent to this basin.

Job stated Tuesday night that the basin site has not been attended to by the DOT since the hurricane. Debris from the storm is still visible at the site and the trash rack is partially clogged which could potentially flood and back up into the athletic field.

Back in April, in regards to the various problems with the site. The state officials had agreed to rectify many of the problems which included improving the drainage at the site but it has yet to be fixed, officials have said. Some improvements were done following that meeting as the border surrounding the fence around the basin was filled in with concrete to minimize the amount of vegetation growth at the site.  

Another major problem for the borough is the flooding to the area of Route 17 on the north bound side near at Williams Avenue. During heavy rainfall part of the roadway is known to flood and following the hurricane the entire roadway was shut down for more than a day. The mayor stated that the borough has repeatedly begged the DOT over the years to help with the flooding each time they have come in to work on Route 17 and nothing has been done.

Heck asked DPW Superintendent Bill Spindler to provide her with a map of the sanitary sewer line which she plans to give to the governor’s office in the hopes of finally getting some help for the area.