Wilsey Square Project a ridiculous waste of other peoples money
This whole project seems to be designed around a $146,000 Federal grant that must include a bike lane. It is a ridiculous waste of other peoples money. Now we are spending $350K of the Village Taxpayers money and $146k of Federal Taxpayers money to create an unusable bike lane and choking a 4 lane road to 2 lanes which will result in all day traffic jams and create a safety issue regarding emergency vehicles.
The Village could have repaved the existing road for $150K.Just plain wasteful and stupid.
Ridgewood approves changes to Garber Square project
JUNE 12, 2014 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, JUNE 12, 2014, 5:20 PM BY LAURA HERZOG STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood Council has approved a modified road improvement plan for Wilsey and Garber squares that reduces the size of a controversial median island, allowing the village to return to two lanes in both directions if traffic congestion becomes an issue.
Despite the council’s changes, the ire of many residents was amplified and expressed on social media on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, after residents found themselves sitting in traffic in Garber Square. On a Ridgewood parent Facebook page, one resident said she waited 11 minutes in traffic to get out of the train station parking lot. The remark sparked a torrent of commiserating replies.
But at Wednesday night’s meeting, Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld said residents mistakenly blamed that traffic jam on the Garber Square construction. Instead, “it had to do with emergency work” by Verizon, she said, adding that she was told a clay tile conduit had collapsed, completely unrelated to the construction project.
“We haven’t even touched that area of road,” she told The Ridgewood News after the meeting.
The road improvement project, which began May 7, still includes the addition of bike lanes in both directions, the reduction of traffic lanes from two lanes to one lane and a median island, as well as paving work on Ridgewood’s west side from Godwin Avenue to Franklin Avenue beneath the New Jersey Transit train trestle.
