State Funding Allocated for Improvements Along Route 1

Millions of dollars worth of state money have been allocated to improve sections of Brunswick Pike (Route 1 and Business Route 1) in Lawrence Township.

According to a news release issued Friday by the New Jersey Department of Transportation, a total of $11.4 million in funding has been earmarked for 11 projects in Mercer County under the state’s proposed $3.5 billion Fiscal Year 2012 Transportation Capital Program. Of that $3.5 billion, $1.2 billion would go to New Jersey Transit.

The program represents the first year of a five-year "Transportation Capital Plan" which Gov. Chris Christie announced in January and which his administration claims will “put New Jersey on the path toward fiscal health by prioritizing projects, decreasing borrowing and increasing pay-as-you-go cash funding.”

“New Jersey’s transportation system helps drive our economy,” Christie said in the news release.  “The projects being funded in the Fiscal Year 2012 capital program reflect our focus on maintaining road, bridge and transit assets in a state of good repair and will benefit residents in every county throughout the state.”

If the proposed state budget is approved, a total of $3.5 million will be spent to improve safety and to resurface parts of Route 1 in Lawrence and West Windsor townships.

Another $30,000 will be spent to advance long-discussed “streetscape” improvements along Business Route 1 from the Brunswick Traffic Circle to Texas Avenue in Lawrence.

The other nine Mercer County projects that would be funded are:

• $2.7 million to advance Route 29 boulevard improvements in Trenton
• $1.1 million for work on the RiverLINE light rail system in Mercer, Burlington and Camden counties
• $900,000 for the replacement of the South Broad Street bridge over the Assunpink Creek in Trenton
• $735,000 for a feasibility study to convert Route 29 to an urban boulevard in Trenton
• $600,000 for work on the Chestnut Avenue, Monmouth Street and East State Street bridges that span Amtrak railroad tracks in Trenton
• $500,000 to study Route 206 in Hamilton Township.
• $200,000 for work on the Route 31 bridge that spans CSX railroad tracks in Hopewell Township and Pennington
• $100,000 to advance site remediation on Duck Island in Hamilton Township
• $100,000 for the East Windsor community shuttle