TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON—Mayor Peter Calamari told the council Sept. 20 that Bergen County officials were expected to give final approval to the long-awaited Pascack Road–Washington Avenue intersection improvement project with work likely to begin in spring 2022.
Calamari said the township acquired all 16 property easements needed for the road-widening project, with the final two remaining easements taken by declarations of taking filed in August in Superior Court, Hackensack.
The declarations of taking are comparable to an easement, town attorney Kenneth Poller told Pascack Press in August. The final property owner, SZ Realty Investment LLC, Peter Covello, Tonya Covello and Pascack Auto Exchange, did not come to terms with the township for an easement on their land. According to a public notice, the township exercised eminent domain on Lots 1 and 7 of Block 3103.
Previously County Planning and Engineering Director Nancy Dargis told Pascack Press that the intersection project would not be put on the division’s schedule until all needed property easements were received from the township.
Calamari said Sept. 20 that town engineer Boswell Engineering had been in contact with the Bergen County administrator who said county executive James Tedesco III was to sign off on documents allowing the county to go out for bids on the project this fall.
Calamari had predicted the intersection project would begin this year but due to Covid-related delays and difficulty in obtaining all needed property easements, the project’s timetable did not make the 2021 calendar.
In June, Calamari had said that Boswell Engineering received a letter from Bergen County officials stating that the county would be funding the intersection in its 2021 budget.
Calamari said that after making final changes requested by the county in late May, Boswell submitted its final revised plans and construction specs for the improved intersection.
The township signed a shared-services agreement with Bergen County in mid-2019 to undertake necessary intersection improvements around the heavily traveled, often congested intersection. However, a final SSA was not signed off on by the township until December 2019 due to last-minute document edits and a second engineer’s review.
A final condition added in December 2019 requires the township to pay for any new traffic lights needed for public safety at under-construction Emergency Services Building. The new building is less than a block from the intersection, which has been a bottleneck affecting motorists throughout the Pascack Valley.
Calamari further reported Sept. 20 that Bergen County notified Boswell that the entire length of Pascack Road is scheduled to be paved. No timeline was given. He said the first step is for local officials to meet with county ADA experts to prepare a list of sidewalk ramps to be replaced.