Sea Girt’s Carriage Way: To Pave or Not to Pave?

Having lost the suspension in his vehicle to the potholes that make driving along Carriage Way a bumpy ride, Ocean Avenue resident Bill Loughlan is at his wit’s end.

Frustrated with the Swiss cheese-like conditions of the dirt-and-gravel road that runs near his beachfront residence, Loughlan briefly returned from his winter home in Florida to complain to the Sea Girt Borough Council at its March 23 meeting.

Although Ocean Avenue residents “pay the highest taxes in town,” they never see any upkeep along Carriage Way, which traverses the adjacent Crescent Park, Loughlan told the council during the meeting’s public comment period.

“[Carriage Way] has been like this for 20 years,” said Loughlan, a 50-year Ocean Avenue resident. “The park is supposed to be maintained by the town. The police don’t even come down there. The town doesn’t maintain it anymore.”

Addressing Loughlan’s complaints, Borough Engineer Peter Avakian pointed to the two possible options for repairing Carriage Way as presented to the council minutes earlier.

“We’ve been working on this for two years. What we’ve done hasn’t worked,” Avakian said. “It has to become a fully paved road or have a new gravel surface.”

In short, Sea Girt officials can choose to either pave Carriage Way with asphalt for a cost of up to $140,000, or excavate and upgrade its stone surface for as much as $75,000, Avakian said during his presentation.

The difference between the estimated price tags for paving or for the upgrades and the sentiments of about 20 residents living near Carriage Way could determine which option the governing body ultimately selects to repair the weather-beaten, 135-year-old road.

Borough Administrator Al Bunting predicted that the council will likely announce its decision — that is paving or resurfacing with stone — to both Avakian and the public at one of its April meetings.

Within the next month, the governing body should be able to compare Avakian’s complete paving package and the estimates for curbing to a plan to upgrade the existing stone surface, Bunting said.

Basic blacktop paving alone might cost about $85,000, said Avakian, repeating an estimate he had presented during a meeting last month. In that scenario, Carriage Way would be excavated and converted into a 12- foot-wide paved roadway with asphalt over a gravel sub-base. The $85,000 price tag includes $20,000 for stormwater management projects as required by state law.

However, that estimate could go up by another $10,000 or more to at least $95,000 depending upon the unit price for asphalt at the time the council authorizes a proposal, Avakian said. The $95,000 estimate is based upon the unit price for the asphalt being used by the contractor carrying out an ongoing paving project on Beacon Boulevard.

Adding raised curbs to the paving package would increase the estimated cost by about another $45,000, and result in a total price tag of at least $140,000, the engineer continued.

Without curbing, the asphalt service would be hard and durable, but could be ultimately be damaged by motorist usage and the elements, he said.

“If you continuously drive SUVs or snowplows over the road, you’ll start to see the asphalt crack,” Avakian said.

A stone shoulder could be installed in lieu of curbs, but would also require constant upkeep compared to curbs which require minimal maintenance, he added.

The borough would also be required to apply for and receive state CAFRA permits from the state Department of Environmental Protection because the asphalt serves as an impervious surface over the existing natural surface, Avakian said.

The cost of applying for the permits is not included in the $140,000 estimate.In contrast, opting for excavating and resurfacing of the stone layers would not require any CAFRA permits. Once the excavating and removal of older gravel was completed, a sub-base of stone or gravel would be placed and then topped with a harder stone cover, he explained.

The estimated $70,000 to $75,000 for the resurfacing package price does not include any curbing, Avakian said.

The town also does not own a grater to periodically smooth out the gravel. Potential drainage issues in the road’s low-lying areas could also be addressed by placing plants and vegetation near the roadway’s sides to absorb water, the engineer said.

Earlier this month, Mayor Mark Clemmensen sought input by mail and by telephone from 17 residents whose properties back up to Carriage Way as to the paving or resurfacing decision.

To date, eight of those residents opposed any paving, six residents favored asphalt, and one, not desiring either option, suggested installing a cobblestone surface or speed humps to slow down traffic. One other resident was undecided and another could not be reached by the mayor.

Those residents who oppose paving have predicted that paving and softening some of the road’s existing sharp curves would result in vehicles speeding through the park en route to Ocean Avenue.

As for Loughlan, he wants an asphalt road with the sharper curves, an existing center island and vegetation. The curves and island could deter motorist speeding on the blacktop, he said.

The council is seeking state Department of Transportation funding to defray the overall cost of repairs. Because winter weather over the past two years has further eroded the Carriage Way’s surface, Sea Girt has listed the road as a priority for 2011 within its five-year road repair program.