Your gas tax at work: Route 95 in Mercer County to get repaved

EWING — The Transportation Trust Fund will be put to work on a major repaving project in Mercer County later this summer.

A $15 million project will repave the 3.5 mile stretch of Route 95 in both directions between Lower Ferry Road in Ewing and Route 1 in Lawrence. Work begins later in the summer and end in the fall.

"It's not a mill-and-pave job, " Department of Transportation spokesman Steve Schapiro said, calling it a safety and preservation project.

"These projects demonstrate just how critical it was to come to a TTF solution that was fair to the taxpayers and would also help to rebuild our infrastructure," Gov. Chris Christie said Tuesday during a news conference in the parking lot of Capital Health Medical Center along the interstate.  "This project will extend the functional life of the existing pavement and save on future rehabilitation costs. It’s really important because about 86,000 vehicles travel this section of roadway every day and having adequate pavement is imperative to the folks driving on it and that daily commute."

Schapiro said a slurry seal will be applied to seal cracks and gaps in the roadway.

"A high performance thin overlay will go on top and that provides a smooth riding surface extends the life of the roadway that won't have be be repaved again so soon."

The gas tax was increased 23-cents per gallon by the legislature at Christie's urging last fall to fund the TTF.

“The public’s money is at work here in Mercer County, enhancing the safety and quality of a highly travelled and economically essential stretch of interstate," Christie said. "It has been quite a while since a New Jersey governor could highlight such widespread transportation progress being made all across this state, delivering on the promise that people’s tax dollars will be properly used for the next eight years in their own back yards."

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com.

More from New Jersey 101.5: