The city's five projects total $2.8 million
TRENTON -- The city has been forced to suspend five road projects because of Gov. Chris Christie's executive order -- a move Assemblyman Reed Gusciora called "completely unacceptable."
The governor's order called for an "immediate and orderly shutdown" of most work funded by the state transportation trust fund by Friday at midnight.
The five affected projects in Trenton, which total $2.8 million, are:
- Milling and resurfacing of South Broad Street from Lalor to Liberty streets, including the construction of ADA-compliant ramps, sidewalks, curbs and tree planting/removal; $507,000
- Reconstruction of North Willow Street from Bank Street to Pennington Avenue, including the construction of ADA-compliant ramps, sidewalks, curbs and tree planting/removal; $572,880
- Reconstruction of Ferry Street from South Broad to Warren streets, including the construction of ADA-compliant ramps, sidewalks, curbs and tree planting/removal; $604,266
- Phase 1 reconstruction of South Clinton Avenue from Greenwood Avenue to Dye Street, including the construction of ADA-compliant ramps, sidewalks, curbs and tree planting/removal; $554,075
- Phase 2 reconstruction of South Clinton Avenue from Dye Street and Cedar Lane, including the construction of ADA-compliant ramps, sidewalks, curbs and tree planting/removal; $634,834
Gusciora (D-Mercer) said older residents and people with disabilities would be the most affected since all of the city's projects included work to make intersections, sidewalks and curb ramps accessible to everyone.
"Stopping work on these projects is equal to stopping work on progress for disabled residents of the city and that's completely unacceptable," he said. "Equal access and safety should be above politics."
Elsewhere in the county, dozens of other projects to replace bridges and resurface roads also came to a halt.
"To think that now, our mindset seems to be, 'Let's kick the can down the road; let's let it deteriorate more' is incredibly frustrating,'" Gusciora said. "We need to address these problems proactively rather than reactively. We need to fix our infrastructure before the inevitable disaster motivates us to take action."
Cristina Rojas may be reached at crojas@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @CristinaRojasTT. Find NJ.com on Facebook.