The Trenton Times published the following article on May 2, 2013. To read the full article, click here.

Mercer County towns to share $3.6M in local aid grants

By Christina Izzo/The Times of Trenton 
on May 02, 2013 at 8:30 AM, updated May 02, 2013 at 8:33 AM

Mercer County towns will share $3.6 million in grants that will be used to improve streets and safety without burdening local property taxpayers, Gov. Chris Christie announced yesterday.

Each municipality will receive a municipal aid grant while East Windsor and Hopewell Borough will receive additional funding through transportation enhancement grants, New Jersey Department of Transportation officials said.

“These grants enable municipalities to stretch their resources and advance important roadway projects and other safety and quality-of-life improvements that benefit all who share the road, including pedestrians and bicyclists,” DOT Commissioner James Simpson said in a news release.

The amount of the municipal aid grants that each town will receive ranges from $220,000 to $321,450 and will assist each town in a variety of road improvements, officials said. Princeton will receive money for two road improvement projects because when the applications were submitted and approved, Princeton had not yet been consolidated, DOT spokesman Joe Dee said.

East Windsor will receive an additional $321,450 to develop sidewalks on Route 571 that lead to transit facilities while Hopewell Borough will receive an additional $235,000 for the third and final phases of its streetscape project, officials said.

Of the 660 applications submitted for this round of state-funded municipal aid grants, 382 grants to different municipalities were awarded, officials said.

Officials said 149 grant applications were received for the transportation enhancement program, which is federally funded, but only 29 were awarded grants.

Officials said under the municipal aid program, the funds for each county are determined by the population and the number of local road miles and the municipalities then compete for portions of their county’s share. The DOT provides 75 percent of the funds when the town is awarded a contract and the final 25 percent upon completion of the project.

In total, 406 local aid grants worth $86.5 million were awarded to municipalities across the state.