The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
The estimate for completion of the winter storm debris cleanup project undertaken by the township is now May 9 for residential areas, and the week of May 14 for remaining major roads.
That’s because township public works crews must temporarily stop the limb pickup work they’ve been doing for more than a month and mow lawns at township parks and athletic fields, Township Manager Robert Vornlocker told the Township Council at its May 8 meeting.
He said that as of May 8, crews were almost finished with streets in Griggstown, and that they would complete that village by May 9.
“And then, believe it or not, we have some grass to cut,” Vornlocker said. “They will probably not be out picking up branches for the remainder of this week because we have some parks that need the grass cut, and we have some athletic fields that have to be done, so we’re going to shift gears for a couple of days and get caught up with the grass-cutting.”
After that, Vornlocker said, the crews will focus on major roads, such as “Hamilton Street, Amwell Road between Millstone Borough and Franklin Boulevard, Easton Avenue in its entire length, a very small portion of South Middlebush Road here in the village where it’s a little more narrow and there are more houses, and Cedar Grove Lane, another road that we’ve made a determination that the safest way to do that is with a long-term work zone as opposed to a temporary work zone as we’ve done before, and just moved house-to-house.”
“For traffic safety purposes and for the safety of our employees, we need to set it up a little differently due to the high speeds on those roads and the large amount of debris as well,” he said.
Vornlocker last month estimated the crews would be done with all but the major roads by May 7.
“Looks like I missed it by two or three days, maybe,” he said.
Vornlocker told the council that he has received a number of compliments from residents about the way the cleanup has been conducted.
“We’re not just picking (the limbs) up and throwing them in the truck,” he said. “We’re raking your yard when we’re done, and every crew is cleaning every yard, and there have been a number of compliments about the state of the yards when they’re done.”
“I’m sure that while it may not have saved us money, it has saved many, many homeowners money,” Vornlocker said. “I think all-in-all, it was a pretty successful project.”
