RTC talks South Carson Street design; selects new contractor

The Regional Transportation Commission reviewed the South Carson Street project design Wednesday.

The commission discussed the roundabout at Stewart and Carson streets, deceleration lanes into car dealerships, and stacking at popular turnoffs on the street, before voting to recommend the 90 percent design to the Board of Supervisors, which voted to approve it Thursday.

Most of the discussion centered around making the design safer for bike riders and pedestrians through additional signage and green paint on the road where vehicles cross bike lanes as a warning to car drivers and bike riders.

Supervisor Brad Bonkowski, who is on the RTC, also brought up lengthening the right-hand turn lanes at Olive Garden and Raley’s, where cars can stack up waiting to enter, in response to an email from a resident.

“We did analyze it and it’s not warranted,” said Dan Stucky, city engineer who gave the presentation on the project.

Stucky said the traffic consultant, Headway Transportation, looked at projected traffic counts as far out as 2040 and found the right-hand turn lanes sufficient.

At the board meeting Thursday, Supervisor Stacey Giomi suggested the city consider making the Carson Street entrances to the restaurant and grocery store exit only so northbound cars would have to use Clearview Drive or Eagle Station or Koontz lanes instead.

Staff will look into that and all the comments from the RTC and supervisors before finalizing the design sometime in the next two months.

The city plans to hold a pre-construction public meeting in November or December and construction is scheduled to start in January 2020.

The RTC also voted to approve a new contractor for work on College Parkway after the contractor first awarded the project failed to submit needed paperwork.

NV NJ Construction Group, Inc. was the lowest of four bidders and awarded the project in June, but has not filed documents required by the federal government. The work to make ADA-improvements is federally funded through the Community Development Block Grant.

The city informed NV NJ Construction in July that the company was non-responsive and the city was rejecting the bid. The construction company replied, claiming it had filed all the necessary documentation but no one from the company attended the RTC meeting.

“I was willing to hear from NV NJ about what has gone wrong, but they’re not here,” said Supervisor Lori Bagwell, who is on the RTC. “They failed the system by not showing up today.”

The RTC awarded the contract to V & C Construction, Inc., the second lowest bidder whose bid was $2,706 higher, for a total not to exceed amount of $200,233.