Crime & Safety

Clark Road Work Begins Monday on Raritan Road, Westfield Avenue

It's a good week to head out of town if you live in Clark.

Monday marks the start of major road work in Clark along both Raritan Road and Westfield Avenue. 

In May, paving was supposed to be done on the entirety of Raritan Road from Osceola Church through Lake Avenue, but the second half of the project was rescheduled for the summer. That work begins Monday and will continue for five days, requiring a full road closure from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m on Raritan Road between Madison Hill Road and Lake Avenue, Clark Business Administrator John Laezza told Patch.

At the same time, Westfield Avenue will receive a new water main followed by roadway milling and paving. That work will begin this week but likely take three to four weeks to complete. Clark Police Chief Alan Scherb says the town hopes to keep the road mostly open with officers directly traffic.

Find out what's happening in Clark-Garwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Because of the work on Westfield Avenue, Clark's summer recreation program usually held at Brewer is moving over to Kumpf Middle School. That program begins today.

"There was no way possible to have summer rec at Brewer this year," the mayor said. "With the amount of cars and children that are there, it would have been totally unsafe. And it's imperative we are able to open the road back before school is back in session. Not all road work can be done in the summer months, but on roads that take the most volume, we try to work with the county and our contractors to try to schedule those for the summer."

Find out what's happening in Clark-Garwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Bonaccorso says traffic in Clark decreases by about 50 percent in the summer months. 

In May, the mayor called the road work that was performed on Raritan Road "a nightmare," saying that the county "will never have my blessing again to pave a major artery in the community unless it's done in the summertime." Many of our readers agreed with the mayor's assessment, commenting about how long it was taking them to get through town. 

"I know this is a hot issue," said Bonaccorso about that project. "It's annoying, it's a process to get through and it's a problem."


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