ROXBURY, NJ – (Updated March 1 with further comments by NJNG) Having dealt for a year with rough pavement in front of her Kenvil Avenue house - due to a New Jersey Natural Gas (NJNG) gas main replacement project - Roxbury Mayor Jaki Albrecht this week said the company needs to do better.
Albrecht was driven to complain by NJNG’s current work on Main Street in Succasunna. The company is installing about two miles of new, 12-inch-diameter steel gas main, according to spokesman Michael Kinney.
“During construction, short sections of Main Street will be closed and detours posted,” Kinney explained. “At the end of each workday, the roadway will be reopened for normal traffic. Work on this system reinforcement project is expected to take approximately two months to complete.”
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Albrecht is not impressed or happy, especially about the way NJNG seems to dig into roads that are in good condition due to relatively recent paving work.
“I really want to say that New Jersey Natural Gas is absolutely destroying our roads,” she said at this week’s Roxbury Mayor and Council meeting. “Main Street in Succasunna is horrific. We just had it paved … and it is an absolute mess. I feel like every time we’re paving a road, New Jersey Natural Gas is coming in and digging them up and only paving half.”
Kinney said NJNJ expects to install about 200 feet of new gas main per day and doesn’t intend on leaving Main Street bumpy, with temporary patches, forever. “Once the work is complete, the road will temporarily patched, to allow for settlement, and then the final repaving will take place,” he said.
The bumpiness of Kenvil Avenue, a road owned by Morris County, irritates Albrecht not only because she’s forced to drive it daily but also because of the noise – particularly from trucks hitting the patched pavement – she and her family endure.
'Committed to Working Closely With Towns'
Roxbury Department of Public Works Director Rick Blood said it usually takes six months for temporary patches to settle before new, final pavement can be applied. NJNG also pointed out that "once construction work is complete, a temporary patch is installed. This allows the roadway to be reopened while the ground settles – a process that typically takes months to occur. If final paving is done before the ground is fully settled, it can result in an uneven road surface. Once that’s complete, final repaving will take place."
Last year, Morris County Communications Director Vincent Vitale said Kenvil Avenue will get that final layer this spring. He also said the county’s inspector drove the roadway … and reported that, while there is extensive patching, the roadway rides smooth.”
Albrecht, and anybody who drives Kenvil Avenue, knows that’s not the case.
“I just wanted to get my frustration on the record,” she said. “My street is definitely impacted. Trucks go by every day: Bang, bang, bang. Kenvil Avenue is terrible now and Main Street Succasunna is going to be just as bad.”
Albrecht said she is also concerned NJNG’s work on Main Street might be hurting the relatively new Main Street Streetscaping project wherein – using state grant money – Roxbury installed new decorative curbing, sidewalks and streetlamps on the north side of the road.
The gas company's contractors appear to be working on the opposite side of the street, but Albrecht said she's seen impacts to the streetscaping elements.
“If you look at it right now … (NJNG is) totally destroying the streetscaping that we worked so hard to put in,” she said. “What a waste of money and resources New Jersey Natural Gas is putting on these towns, not to mention the traffic delays and reroutes and the frustration.”
Kinney said the company “is reinforcing its system to support safe, reliable service to customers in Morris County” by upgrading the gas distribution system. In a subsequent statement, the company said it is "committed to working closely with the towns to minimize any impacts due to construction," and said it realizes that installation of new gas lines can be disruptive.
"We understand that large scale projects like this can be frustrating, and we appreciate the community’s understanding while work is ongoing," NJNG said. "NJNG is also committed to restoring the affected areas to the original condition or better."
Blood said the line being installed in Main Street is a "trunk line" without connections to individual customers.
"It will just be a single trench," he said. "This line will run the length of Main Stfeet, through Ruethers, across Route 10 and up the rest of Main Street and then out onto Route 46 to Orben Drive (in Ledgewood) where it terminates."
He said NJNG will be starting a gas line replacement project later this month. "This project will begin in Denville and run around the breakdown lane of Route 10 westbound which will terminate on South Street, connecting to the new line currently being installed," Blood explained. "The project is expected to be completed by June of 2025."
Related coverage by TAPinto Roxbury:
A Bumpy Road in Roxbury from Gas Line Work
New Skin for Not-So-Pleasant Piece of Pleasant Hill Road in Roxbury
46 to Stay Open During 3-Month-Long Gas Line Project in Roxbury
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