Oroho, Space host DOT commissioner

NEWTON — Senator Steven Oroho and Assemblyman Parker Space (both-R-Sussex, Warren, Morris) hosted Commissioner Richard Hammer of the New Jersey Department of Transportation as well as Deputy Commissioner Joseph Bertoni and other top department staff on a tour today to highlight several transportation projects in the 24th Legislative District.
“We were pleased to have the Commissioner and key staff come up to the district to see firsthand some of the transportation projects that are reliant on state assistance,” said Oroho. “I am confident our district’s needs, as they relate to road and bridge maintenance and improvements, will see the critical investment from the state.”
Senator Oroho met last month in Trenton with Commissioner Hammer, as well as department staff and NJ Transit officials, to talk about the transportation needs throughout the 24th Legislative District. At that meeting, Commissioner Hammer agreed to travel up to the district to tour some of the more pressing projects.
The specific projects that were visited included: Route 23 Road Project (Holland Mountain Road, East Shore Road, Northern/Laceytown Road), Hardyston Township,, Pedestrian safety and signage improvements around Newton Green, Newton; proposed site of Andover train station along the Lackawanna Cutoff, Andover Township; River Styx Bridge Rehabilitation Project, Hopatcong; International Drive North improvements, Trade Zone, Mount Olive Township; Paulinskill Bridge repairs, Blairstown.
“As a more rural district, we have a vast array of municipal and county roads and bridges that require as much attention as the infrastructure under the State’s purview,” said Space. “It is incumbent upon us as the representatives in this district to make that need known.”
The DOT relayed that 33 projects in District 24 are presently part of the State’s Transportation Capital Program with a value of approximately $108 million.
Oroho pointed out that one of the key components of the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) reauthorization last year was the doubling of local transportation aid to counties and municipalities to help ease the property tax burden.
“By augmenting the share of the TTF that is dedicated to Local Transportation Aid, from 10 percent to 20 percent of the pie each year, we are helping towns and counties provide for more of their own roads and bridges without having local property taxpayers bear the full cost,” said Oroho.