Eatontown, County and State: Synced for the Road Ahead

When the state made its announcement last week that it would allocate $40 million towards highway improvements to make way for the Fort Monmouth redevelopment, Eatontown officials looked up from their work, nodded their heads, and went right back to the grindstone.

Getting Eatontown’s roads up to snuff, for the redevelopment of what has been called a small city, isn’t news for those here in town. Mayor Gerald Tarantolo and his borough have been quietly working with the county for years to get improvements to the area, some of which have already begun.

As the mayor of one of the three towns that the fort spans, Tarantolo is a board member of the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority (FMERA). Three years ago, he said, when he and the other members of the authority’s predecessor were creating the design plan for the fort, “We knew that if this redevelopment was going to be a success, access to the area would be paramount.” Those plans that FMERA made for road redevelopment are what the state announced last week.

The project is also a bonus for the borough where the traffic patterns, Taranotolo said, “are in dire need of revamping,” but he noted that Eatontown isn't looking for a free ride.

Tarantolo said he expects Eatontown to throw in about $250,000 to improvements to that area, money that it generated from fees from its Industrial Park. “We’re putting our money where our mouth is in cooperation from the state,” he said.

The state funds will come from the New Jersey Turnpike Authority’s 10-year, $7 billion capital project.

According to Turnpike Authority Chairman and Transportation Commissioner James Simpson, the project will improve traffic flow in the vicinity and provide better access to the western portion of the fort. The Garden State Parkway Exit 105 and the intersection of Hope Road and Route 36 are both slated for makeovers. New ramps will be added to the southbound parkway onto Wayside Avenue. Signage would also be added to Exit 105 in both directions for Fort Monmouth area visitors. Improvements for the congested Hope Road, Route 36 intersection have not yet been specified.

The mayor emphasised that, while its good for the borough, the project is a shared effort between the state, county, borough and FMERA.  “It solves Eatontown’s problem with a needed redesign,” he said.

Hope Road congestion is one of Eatontown's major concerns. Tarantolo said that the county is doing traffic counts now for a traffic light syncing project for Hope Road where it intersects with Industrial Way, Wyckoff Road and Route 36 to address long queues, especially at Hope and Wyckoff roads. Eatontown and the county are also working to widen the section of Wyckoff Road between Routes 35 and 36, an area of town that is particularly congested. In this project, Eatontown has already paid for the engineering fees. Tarantolo said he expects construction to begin shortly.

According to Bruce Steadman, executive director of FMERA, the project will add value to the fort property and shows a commitment to development of the 1,126-acre post.

The fort is set to close on September 15 but the redevelopment is expected to be a 20-year project. The state expects to award a design contract in July and begin construction in 2013.