Culvert Pre-Ordered for Kinnelon Road Repair

Morris County has already pre-ordered the culvert that will be used to , Mayor Bob Collins told the and public Thursday.

While the mayor said he does not expect the repair to be completed until mid-December, Collins said the county has been moving quickly to ensure the road road, which suffered a collapse after , is available to residents as soon as possible.

The storm that followed the hurricane caused a gaping hole where the road collapsed, forcing the borough to shut down the road since then. through Boonton Avenue and while the mayor sought to have temporary, one-lane access created on Kinnelon Road in September, Collins said the county did not approve the temporary fix.

The county engineer did indicate to Collins that the culvert should be delivered by the third week of November and that construction could take up to two weeks from there.

Collins also told the council Thursday that the county has already received Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) approval to construct the repair and that since the project has been classified as "emergent" the county has also already selected three approved contractors to provide bids. Collins said this is not typical for the bidding process on construction projects, but the fact that the county was able to do this under the "emergent" classification shows that they are trying to move quickly.

The contract is expected to be awarded to one of the bidders on Oct. 26, he said.

Collins said he knows that the time it is taking to repair the road has caused

"Unfortunately, I think this is the best that we're going to do at this time," he said.