Ramshorn Drive Re-Paving Slated For August

The resurfacing of a damaged section of Ramshorn Drive likely will be completed in August, township officials said Wednesday.

The Township Committee has previously adopted a bond ordinance to finance improvements to stretches of Ramshorn Drive. The $200,000 appropriation includes an immediate down payment of $10,000 to begin repaving the road from Lakewood Road to Allen Way – a ½-mile portion of the South Wall road that was damaged in recent winter storms.

Earlier this year, Wall was awarded a $160,000 grant from the state Department of Transportation to resurface the road. Most of the appropriated money will be paid back with the grant money, Township Administrator Joe Verruni has said.

Committeeman Todd Luttman at Wednesday’s meeting that the committee received a question from a Ramshorn Drive resident asking when the road would be fixed.

Verruni has previously said the township hopes to start the project in July and have it wrapped up in August.

“It really is going to be an August project,’’ Verruni said Wednesday. “We’re still shooting for August. We think we’ll be done in August.’’

The grant money is the township’s share of a $78.75 million Municipal Aid grant program that will be doled out for 370 projects statewide to improve roads and road safety.  In total, 35 Monmouth County towns received $6.6 million, according to a DOT release.

The plan is to resurface the length of Ramshorn Drive, officials have said, spread out over several phases to absorb the fiscal impact.

Under the grant program, each county is apportioned a share of the total funding based on population, the number of local road miles and other factors. Municipalities compete for portions of their county’s share, according to the release.

The DOT provides 75 percent of the grant amount when a town awards a contract and the remaining 25 percent upon completion of the project, the release said.

The DOT received 677 applications requesting more than $246 million for the 2011 projects, according to the release.