FROM THE DESK OF MAYOR CHRIS BOTTA

May 7, 2014

________________________________________

The Lake Street bridge/culvert replacement project overseen by the County of Bergen continues to have a severe and adverse impact on the Ramsey community, due to overflow of residential street traffic, difficult detours, and economic hardship to our downtown merchants. The Borough of Ramsey governing body understands this situation, and will continue to impress upon the County and its contractors that any day, hour or even minute extra this roadway is closed negatively impacts all our residents, businesses and visitors. Ramsey officials have had numerous meetings on site and with officials in Hackensack, stressing the need for swift completion of this project. Unfortunately, the County's contractor, D.R. Mullen Construction Co., Inc. still does not have the specifically engineered precast box culvert onsite to install. This culvert is made up of six sections. After field measurements were completed in the winter, two of these sections were manufactured incorrectly, and were rejected by the County inspectors. These sections are in the process of being remanufactured. They will need to cure for a period of time, and will then be transported to the site with the other sections. The Contractor and the County have now provided a timeline for that to occur by the end of May. If all goes as planned, the culvert sections will then be set in place approximately the first week of June. It is reported to the Borough that virtually all the other work the contractor can do prior to the culvert being installed has been completed, including work on the dam and waterway. 

On a positive note, the Borough of Ramsey's water main replacement project on Lake Street has been completed on time and under budget. Likewise, one of the biggest challenges of the project was the tremendous amount of utility lines and conduits running underground, which necessarily had to be relocated as part of the roadway and culvert replacement. Recently, this work was also completed, which cleared a major hurdle for shortening the timeframe of the project.

The County originally projected full completion for one year (November 2013 to November 2014). The County's new estimated timeframe for the opening of the roadway is August 2014.

Despite the setback on delivery of the precast culvert, the County's new estimate of an earlier completion date is positive news. The delay related to sections of the culvert having to be remanufactured however is inexcusable and extremely disappointing to the Borough. While Ramsey has no control over the project or the County's contractors, Borough officials will continue to press the County and its contractors to move the project along and safely open the roadway as soon as practical.

Periodic updates on the progress of the project can be found on the Borough's website: www.ramseynj.com

Mayor Christopher C. Botta

Borough of Ramsey