Township Plans Additional Brush Cleanup

Clean-up is continuing after Tropical Storm Irene in August and the snowstorm in October dumped branches and debris in the roads all over the township—and officials are taking steps to complete the cleanup within the next week.

The township approved a resolution Monday that will transfer about $50,000 into a fund for street and road clean-ups in sections of Bridgewater. The money is from other accounts where it has been unused, and is part of a larger end-of-the-year transfer to move funds in the budget where they are needed.

According to township administrator Robert Bogart, Bridgewater has a day-by-day schedule of areas in town for clean-up, with the schedule continuing through Thursday.

The work is being done by outside contractors for the township.

“This came about very recently because we had concerns that the clean-up needed to be tightened up,” Bogart said.

“There should be less and less cleanup needed each day,” added township engineer Thomas Forsythe.

Bogart said the crews are hauling away materials left on the roads, including some areas that had already been cleaned but where residents have put out more brush to be collected.

Councilman Matthew Moench said he would like to see those areas with any safety issues being done first, namely places where fallen branches or other debris are causing a safety issue.

“We will be pretty much done before Christmas,” Forsythe said, adding that some additional final clean-ups will be done by Dec. 28.

Check the included map to see when individual areas will be cleaned, but the schedule for the remainder of the week is as follows:

Tuesday—Contractor A will focus on Area 3, Contractor B will focus on Area 4 and Contractor C will focus on Area 6.

Wednesday—Contractor A will focus on Areas 1 and 2; Contractor B will focus on Areas 2 and 4; and Contractor C will focus on Areas 5 and 6.

Thursday—Contractor A will focus on Areas 1 and 2; Contractor B will focus on Areas 3 and 4; and Contractor C will focus on Areas 5 and 6.

Area 1—Bradley Gardens and Vanderveer Area

Area 2—County Club and Meadow roads Area

Area 3—Martinsville Somerset Avenue Area

Area 4—Central Martinsville, Foothill Road Area

Area 5—Finderne Area

Area 6—East Martinsville, Thomae Park Shady Lane Area