Reporter Says Contamination Story's Accurate; Borough Officials Agree

A Courier News reporter says he's standing by a story he wrote about how contamination is forcing further delay of the New Market Avenue extension.

A local South Plainfield weekly newspaper criticized the story, which appeared recently in the Courier and its sister paper, the Home News Tribune.  The article pointed to low-level contaminants discovered on the site of the proposed roadway as the cause of additional construction delay, with completion possibly extending into the summer.

"I stand by our story." said Courier News writer Jeff Grant.  Grant's article acknowledged the project is also being slowed by work being done by Verizon at the site, but he says the contamination is also to blame.

A front-page article in the South Plainfield Observer attacked Grant's story as "not accurate" and disputed whether contamination was forcing further delay. The Observer headline blames the delay solely on Verizon and Comcast's decision to put their lines underground instead of on poles.

But Borough officials contacted by 07080 side with Grant, saying that contamination will set the project back and delay the opening until at least July.  By contrast, the Verizon and Comcast work should only take several weeks, something the Observer article concedes.

Officials say the contaminants were found along the road bed, near the proposed intersection with Spicer Avenue, an area that was originally thought to be free from pollutants.

Grant's story cites two official Borough sources, Democratic Mayor Charles Butrico and Republican Councilman Rob Bengivenga, with both acknowledging the contamination and the need for clean-up.  The Observer only interviewed Butrico.

The New Market extension has a checkered political history.  Butrico originally proposed the project as part of a plan to re-route trucks off Hamilton Boulevard.  Republicans initially questioned the plan, pointing to the possibility of contamination along the route, which Butrico at the time denied.  While Republicans campaigned against the new route in 2008, they chose not to block it a year later to avoid making the truck route a political football.

Resident Frank Mikorski, a frequent critic of the extension, has repeatedly questioned Butrico at council  meetings, asking that the public be told the total cost of the project's two phases, which are estimated in the millions.  Officials don't know whether the contamination will increase these costs.

Along with completing the extension, council members are looking to reconstruct sections of New Market Avenue, which is deteriorating due to constant truck traffic.  The project is expected to cost about $650,000, with state transportation grants covering a large part of that cost.