Politics & Government

Construction, Traffic Troubles to Continue on Route 202

County paving project set to begin this week.

Update: According to a representative from the Morris county engineering office, work has begun on Route 202 in Montville, though actual milling and paving is not set to being until Tuesday, August 3. The project is scheduled for three days of work from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and one evening of night paving to run from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m.  The project should be completed by August 6.

According to Tom Stankard, a representative from the Morris county engineering department, the work will include the milling and paving of roughly three-quarters of a mile of Route 202 south of Changebridge Road.

"The work is milling and paving with a two-inch dig-out and a two-inch repaving running south of Changebridge to the [Jade Mountain and Hunting Hills] condos," he said.

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While Stankard did say that, occasionally, such projects run ahead schedule, area residents should expect the construction to take four days.

"Sometimes, we're better about it" he said. "Usually it takes two days for milling, two days for paving."

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The construction is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which, according to the bill's website, focuses on creating and saving jobs and spurring economic activity through, among other things, road repair.

Stankard claims that, because the project is part of the Act, the work "goes beyond regular maintenance."

This project comes on the heels of PSE&G's project on Route 202, which reduced the road to one lane during construction and contributed to slow traffic thought town.

""The gas company is trying to finish up its work in anticipation of the county paving," town administrator Frank Bastone said. "The county doesn't want the gas company tearing up re-paved road. The main thing is they're trying to get the work done, trying to finish up ahead of the county schedule."

The PSE&G project, which involved digging test holes to insure gas line safety, has been going on since June. Signs posted on Route 202 claim that the county project is set to begin on Tuesday, July 27.

The township website posted a construction update advising citizens to expect delays and seek alternate routes and said that the construction should be finished "on or around" August 2.


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