Newly Repaved Road Patched, Causing “Speed Bump”

Residents are frustrated by the construction that marred a newly-paved road. (Photo by Judy Smestad-Nunn)

BRICK – A recent water main break on Mantoloking Road near the site of the former Visitation Relief Center necessitated the patching of the newly-repaved roadway, creating what one resident called a “speed bump.”

During a recent Township Council meeting, Mayor John G. Ducey said the county informed him that New Jersey Natural Gas would be performing maintenance work on areas of Mantoloking Road, further damaging the smooth surface.

The roadway has been marked, and the utility company would be digging a series of small holes for pipe inspection, he said.

In Brick Township, there is a five-year moratorium on digging up the roadway after it has been paved, but before any paving work is begun, township engineer Elissa Commins had the idea to contact every utility – the Municipal Utilities Authority, NJNG, and JCP&L – to formulate a paving plan, Ducey explained.

For example, if plans are in the works to pave a township road, and Commins discovers that a water main replacement is planned there for 2021, she will postpone the roadwork until the utility work has been completed, he said.

“The people aren’t happy that their roads aren’t getting paved, but they’re happy when they find out there’s going to be a water main replacement, and after that, the road is replaced,” he said.

Ducey said he offered the same program to the county since digging up a newly paved road is a “travesty,” he said.

“I understand it’s going to get torn up…and it’s a total waste of taxpayer money,” he said.

Residents are frustrated by the construction that marred a newly-paved road. (Photo by Judy Smestad-Nunn)

The county has promised that NJNG would be responsible for repaving the westbound lanes where the construction would be taking place, Ducey said.

“Whether or not that happens, I can’t say for sure, but they say it’s not going to be patches. It’s going to be paved,” the mayor said. “We’ll see.”

After the recent water main break, the county repaired the road inhouse, Ducey said. Normally, when an outside contractor is involved, they contact the Brick Police Department to set up a traffic plan, but that did not happen this time.

“They just showed up. They started paving and shut the road down,” Ducey said. “Our police chief then had to get our guys out there …and then the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department decided they would cover it, since it was a county job.”

Police Chief James Riccio was at the site of the water main break on a Friday night, directing traffic himself, Ducey said.

“That’s the way that job went, and now it’s being torn up again,” he said.

In other news, the mayor distributed CBDG (Community Development Block Grant funding) checks during the council meeting to 12 local nonprofit organizations that provide a wide variety of services to the public locally.

The township receives the funding as part of the U.S. Housing and Urban Development CDBG Public Services Program.

The CDBG check recipients were: Community Services, Inc. of Ocean County/Meals on Wheels, $7,000; Church of the Epiphany, St. Vincent DePaul Society, $3,000; Ocean County Hunger Relief, $2,000; Providence House, $3,000; Dottie’s House, $2,000; Interfaith Hospitality Network of Ocean County, $2,000; The Arc, Ocean County Chapter, $2,000; Ocean’s Harbor House, $8,000; Church of the Visitation, $2,000; Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ocean County, $2,000; Caregiver Volunteers of Central Jersey, $2,000; and Jersey Shore Council Boy Scouts of America, $2,000.