Lake Street Construction Eyes Late Summer Start

Officially, a county roadwork project that will shut down Lake Street is estimated to take five to six months.

However, according to an update on the project from borough administrator Bruce Vozeh at a council meeting this week, it could take longer.

The county, which is working to beat the clock on expiring DEP permits needed to carry out the construction near Napolitano’s pond, will likely go out to bid for the project next month, Vozeh said. It plans to start roadwork in late August or early September.

Estimations that the project will take five to six months to complete, “means you’re going into the winter months, so to be safe, I’d actually add time to that,” Vozeh said.

Plus, Ramsey’s Board of Public Works is also planning to talk with the county about doing some additional underground work in the area since the road will be closed and torn up anyway, Vozeh said.

Officials also expressed a concern that the planned start date is right around the start of the 2013-14 school year in Ramsey.

The timeline for the project is “the county’s to manage,” Vozeh said. But, the borough is working to have input on the closure, and the detours it will cause in town. Officials are planning meetings with the county to “ensure” that the impact of detoured traffic through local neighborhoods is minimized, Vozeh said.

The borough is working on several alternatives to deter traffic from cutting through local residential roads, including limiting roads to local traffic only or posting specific alternate detour routes.

Either way, “it’s a major roadway. It’s not going to be an easy closure,” Vozeh said.

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