Township Seeks Funding for Solar School Zone Speeding Signs

Despite being denied a grant to help pay for them, Mahwah’s township council says it would still like to find a way to install solar-powered school zone signs on Ridge Road and Fardale Avenue.

The council started discussions earlier this month on how they may attempt to work with the Board of Education to install flashing “School Zone” signs on the two roadways, and/or radar signs that display the school zone speed limit, and drivers’ speeds as they pass.

“Those signs are effective,” Councilman Chuck Jandris, who has been pushing for the installation of speeding signage outside township schools, said.

“People fly down Ridge Road. I think the whole thing should be a school zone.”

At a township council meeting Thursday, engineer Mike Kelly told the council that he is hopeful Mahwah may receive some “discretionary funding” from the state to help pay for the project. Kelly said he recently had a conversation with representatives at the state Department of Transportation about the project.

“We made an application for [discretionary spending funds] over the summer. He said they have not reviewed them yet,” Kelly told the council. “But, he also said they haven’t received that many applications. It was encouraging that we might get the grant.”

The township originally applied for a “Safe Routes to Schools” state grant in 2011 to pay for the project, but was denied the grant earlier this year. In May, the township applied for “discretionary funding,” which is money left over from grant-winning projects across the state that either were completed for less money than originally anticipated, or ended up not being completed at all.

The grant was originally for six flashing school zone signs, at an approximate cost of $6K per sign. However, at recent meeting, council members said they’d like to replace a few of those with the radar signs.

Kelly said the radar signs average about $4,000 more per sign than the school zone signs.

Council President Harry Williams, the liaison to the Board of Education, said he also plans to discuss the project and potential funding with the BOE.