Borough Receives $500K for Pedestrian Safety Improvements

The borough has received a sizable grant for construction improvements along Fair Lawn Avenue that, when implemented, should make the thoroughfare a safer place for crossing pedestrians.

Although the $500,000 matching grant is earmarked for Fair Lawn Avenue improvements, it was actually applied for and received by the county from the state.

The county supplies the funds and the borough provides the engineering needed to design and implement the improvements -- most of which has already been done.

"Where we were very fortunate was, 90 percent of the engineering work had already been completed," said borough manager Tom Metzler, who compared the grant to a .

"This is another classic case where this has been worked on for years," Metzler said, referencing the borough's past use of cones at Fair Lawn Avenue intersections to create an artificial bump out that forced drivers to slow down when turning. "It allowed the and to monitor whether it was an effective intersection. This went on years ago -- six, seven years ago -- but all the engineering was done and we’re just getting the money to do that now."

Based on preliminary discussions with borough engineer Ken Garrison, Metzler said the grant should be enough to finance Fair Lawn Avenue bump outs, an enhanced pedestrian crosswalk at Abbott Road and pedestrian timers at Fair Lawn Avenue and Plaza Road.