LONG AWAITED CROSS STREET WIDENING PROJECT IS FINALLY OUT FOR BIDDING

Phase I of Ocean County's long awaited project to widen Cross Street in Lakewood is finally out for bids, FAA News has learned.

The entire stretch of Cross Street is currently one travel lane in each direction with additional lanes at the signalized intersections.

To alleviate traffic along this heavily traveled corridor, county engineers have worked for years on a project to widen the entire roadway to 3 lanes plus shoulders.

The project will be done in two phases. Phase one covers the 1.4 miles length of Cross Street between Route 9 and Augusta Boulevard. Phase two covers the remainder of the road to Lakewood New Egypt Road.

In phase 1, the project section of Cross Street will be widened with the addition of a center turning lane and an increased shoulder on the westbound side of the road. After construction, this section of the roadway will total 52 feet wide, with two – 12 foot wide travel lanes, a 12 foot center left turn lane, and two - 8 foot wide shoulders.

At the intersection with Massachusetts Avenue, the Cross Street approach will have a 12 foot travel lane, 12 foot left turn lane, a 12 foot right turn lane, and 5 foot wide shoulder and the Massachusetts Avenue approach will have a 12 foot wide travel lane, a 12 foot wide left turn lane, and 8 foot wide shoulder.

This key intersection will also be upgraded with a new traffic signal with dedicated left turning phases in all approaches. This upgrade is expected to greatly alleviate congestion in this entire corridor area.

Stormwater management facilities and improvements to the roadway drainage system will also be constructed.

County officials secured New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection approval for prerequisite environmental permits in Spring 2021. They have since been finalizing engineering plans and have begun acquiring rights-of-way necessary for the land taking and easements.

Additionally, since that time, County officials have been requiring all construction projects along Cross Street to relocate the utility poles along their property frontage to make way for the county's widening project. This will help speed things up for the county as they now have less poles to relocate.

As previously reported here on FAA News, back in January, the Fairways Homeowners Association delayed this entire project from getting out to bid after they refused to sign off on the right-of-way taking.

Finally, as previously reported here on FAA News, in March, Ocean County Superior Court Judge Francis Hodgson put an end to their meddling, which lead to County officials being able to now begin the process of soliciting bids for the project.

Bids will be open at the end of April. The Ocean County Board of Commissioners is expected to formally award the contract in mid-May. If all goes as planned, road work could begin this summer.

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