Letter to the Springfield Faithful

Dear Springfield,

I have been contacted by residents who are concerned about the County repaving of Shunpike Road and Mountain Avenue during the high holidays.  On Sunday, September 9th, residents received a public notification call that construction would be starting on Monday, September 10th in order to provide advance notice of the upcoming projects.

First, please know there is no disrespect intended as some residents are implying.  Ultimately, this was not scheduled by the Township but by Union County who owns Shunpike Road and Mountain Avenue and the schedule was given to us after months of pressure to repave them.  There is little window of flexibility due to the reality of such a project that is dictated largely by the private contractors and they are driven by material and labor availability.  Additionally, Shunpike Road is used by the Public Works departments of many of the 21 towns in Union County who drive to the quarry to dispose of leaves being collected.  With leaf collection starting, the County wanted to conclude this project as quickly as possible and so the contractor is starting Shunpike Road first.  Also, with Yom Kippur the following week and Sukkot the week after that, any shift of the schedule a number of days will affect those holidays as well.

The closure of Shunpike Road begins Monday, September 17th from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily and is expected to last about 5 days.  The inconvenience caused by the closure which will require all residents to take an alternate route will be a disruption to a large population regardless of when the work is scheduled.  As a result of the closing of Shunpike Road, drivers can still use Henshaw Avenue, Tooker Avenue, and Morris Avenue as alternate routes. 

I apologize for the inconvenience caused by this project.

Best wishes l'shana tova.

Respectfully,

Ziad Andrew Shehady
Mayor, Township of Springfield