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Ocean Freeholders Approve Several County-Wide Initiatives
Funding Includes Construction Of Toms River Bridge And Recycling Projects
By Bill McLaughlin
The Ocean County Board of Freeholders announced funding for a host of new projects at its biweekly meeting this week.
Funding includes $2.5 million for the construction of new bridge in Toms River, 16 municipal recycling projects and plans to buy undeveloped land on the Lacey- Manchester border.
The aging Vince's Bridge on Oak Ridge Parkway, near Winding River Park, will be replaced this summer over a four month period. Typically, a similar bridge replacement project can take about two years to complete, but the bidwinning contractor, Marbro Inc. of Montclair, plans to build most of the structure in a factory, and then assemble on-site.
Marbro comes highly recommended by people in the industry, County Engineer Frank Scarantino told the board. Time would be saved, said Scarantino, because the project will be using a "hyper-build" method, whereby the construction process amounts to assembling prefabricated components.
"We usually struggle with bridge projects - for up to two years sometimes - we just get bogged down," said Scarantino.
In addition, because a temporary bypass road is scheduled to be built parallel to the 100-foot span, there will be no work interruptions or traffic backups.
Groundbreaking is planned for June, with work expected to be finished by the fall. About 8,000 motorists use the span daily as a link between Route 37 and shopping areas in the northern end of Toms River Township.
"This makes it less inconvenient," said Freeholder John Kelly. "I'm very happy about that."
The Vince's Bridge project will be similar to last year's replacement of the Center Street Bridge, in Little Egg Harbor, which only took only two weeks using the same "hyper-build" method, Scarantino said.
In other county funding news, Freeholder James Lacey said 16 municipalities applied for matching grants to be used in recycling efforts, with each applicant agreeing to a 50 percent match of the funds. So far this year, the county has paid out $124,000 mini-grants for a variety of uses. Funding comes from the county's recycling revenue-sharing plan as well as receipts from a state solid waste tax.
In all, the recycling program has paid out more than $1 million to fund 87 proposals since its inception eight years ago. New recycling centers have been built in Berkeley, Beachwood, Island Heights, Tuckerton and Little Egg Harbor, with the most recent centers opening this year on Long Beach Island and Barnegat.
"This money has been used to fund safety upgrades at some facilities, and additional storage at others," Lacey said. "When a recycling center is convenient and provides residents with a host of services and programs like dropoff areas for used paint, mixed papers, then we have taken trash and made it into treasure."
The $27,000 county recycling center projects include $8,100 for the Island Heights facility for two roll-off containers, fencing and lighting; $6,200 for fencing at Seaside Heights; $4,375 in Toms River for two roll-off containers; and $3,575 in Berkeley for two roll-off containers.
County Recycling Chief Ernest Kuhlwein said he's encouraged by the rising number of applications for towns increasing their efforts to recycle.
Applications were reviewed by the Ocean County Solid Waste Advisory Council subcommittee, consisting of Theresa Lettman, James Boekholt Jr., Suzanne Plesnarski and Angela Kacsur.
The county also approved the purchase of 73 acres along Lacey Road, just west of Robert Miller Airpark, with the vast majority of land in Lacey and approximately one acre in Manchester. The purchase price of $555,000 is well below the initial asking price of $2.5 million just a few years ago, with Phillip Martone, of Kearny, being the titled landowner.
In announcing the deal, Freeholder John Bartlett said the land is part of a swath that includes acreage owned by Lacey, the state and the county, near the Davenport branch of the Toms River.
Bartlett said the area should be familiar to drivers who once had to make a dangerous sharp left where Lacey Road turns west toward Trenton.
"Our county engineering and road departments took a hard left, and made it a sweeping turn," Bartlett said.
Freeholder Gerry Little, who made the trip almost daily while serving as an aide to Sen. Leonard Connors and Assemblymen Christopher Connors and Jeffrey Moran, knows the area well.
"That used to be a white-knuckle trip," Little said with a laugh.
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