Brick Gets Rt. 70 Pedestrian Safety Grant

Walking from the Kohl's shopping center to Brick Plaza is difficult, to say the least.

It's not uncommon to see pedestrians jumping the Jersey barrier that divides Route 70 to make it across the busy road to get from one side to the other.

The answer to the issues in that part of town may have come in the form of a pedestrian safety grant awarded to the township last week. The $308,600 grant will go towards a concrete solution to make crossing Route 70 easier in the area of the shopping district.

"You walk down Chambers Bridge Road and you can't get from one plaza to the other," said Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis.

Complicating matters in any improvement project, however, will be the importance of the intersection of Chambers Bridge Road and Route 70 to the township's traffic flow. Even minor changes can lead to serious delays, the mayor said.

"Want to make sure we don't create a traffic problem," he said.

Township officials will sit down with engineers to find a solution, then use the grant funding to implement it.

"We're going to sit down and put something down in a concrete form," Acropolis said.

Brick wasn't the only local municipality to receive grant funding last week.

Point Pleasant Beach got $250,000 to fund improvements to Grant Avenue, Point Boro received $350,000 for improvements to Edgar Road and Roberts Place, while Mantoloking received $27,000 to go toward drainage improvements along Bay Avenue.

The full list of grants is available on a state website.