Many Montclair residents are now familiar with the paving and curbing notices Department of Community Services (DCS) workers place in mailboxes to provide a “heads up” about forthcoming roadway improvement work to be done on their streets. When roadwork is about to commence on a particular street, notices will be hand-delivered to homes on that street, with instructions to remove cars from the roadway and out of driveways by 7:00 AM until 6:00 PM on the days work will take place.
Since 2013, DCS has paved and curbed more than 45 miles of roadway. This year, Council budgeted for 10 additional miles of paving and curbing to be completed throughout the Township, which means more road work notices will be distributed.
In the past, DCS frequently responded to the question “when will my street be done?” Nowadays, because of the great number of road improvement projects taking place, the more frequent question is “why is there such a delay between milling (existing roadway removed) and paving my roadway?”
The time gap between when a road is milled and when it is paved is due to a number of factors:
1. Inclement weather or colder temperatures preclude paving work.
2. Post-milling inspections. Milling creates severe vibrations. The paving operation is delayed for some days to ensure that no water or gas line breaks will occur. In fact, the Township has PSE&G inspect gas lines within milled roads with “sniffer” trucks before paving.
3. PSE&G construction. PSE&G will often use a milled road as an opportunity to install new underground cable for streetlights. This work delays paving but the result is a more resilient grid.
The Department of Community Services makes every effort to minimize disruption to normal routines and schedules while work is being performed. The inconvenience is temporary, the improvement is long-term.
If residents have any questions regarding street improvement work, please contact DCS at 973-509-5711. For questions regarding PSE&G activities in the project areas, please call 1-800-436-7734.