FH Streetscape East Project Out to Bid

Once spring hits, changes in the look and feel along the rest of Fair Haven’s main corridor will start sprouting up.

With the Borough Council authorizing bidding for the project, dubbed Streetscape East, at its Monday night meeting, the main River Road corridor, from Oak Place to Buena Vista Avenue (the Rumson border), will start to look more like the business district in the borough, but with adaptations to its more residential tone.

The project is being funded via a NJ Department of Transportation Trust Fund grant program, which was awarded to Fair Haven in fiscal year 2010.

“The project is designed to enhance pedestrian and vehicular safety,” Mayor Ben Lucarelli said.

 “There will be new sidewalk, curbs, colored crosswalks and the same street lighting (lamps) that runs along the business district, but this will be more spread out, to fit in with the more residential environment of that area.”

For instance, the sidewalks within that stretch of roadway are heavily degraded and non-existent in some places, the mayor added. This portion of the Streetscape project will remedy that safety issue, which has been a concern of many residents.

In some spots, Lucarelli pointed out, the curb faces are now two inches and will be increased to six.

And, in some spots, while there will not be a comprehensive repave of roads, some milling and paving will need to be done where necessary.

The mayor, an avid cyclist, is hoping for bike paths as well, but “they may not be included in this,” he said.

However, the borough continues to try to get the county to “buy in on the bike paths and share arrows,” as River Road is a county road.

Residents have complained that speeders continue to barrel through the area. Since school started, police have clamped down on ticketing and some say they’ve noticed a difference.