Work begins to make Palmyra totally accessible
By: TODD McHALE
Burlington County Times
Online : phillyBurbs.com

PALMYRA - Every corner on every block will have them.

When completed, a person in a wheelchair will be able to roll through the borough and not need to jump a single curb.

Despite the winter season, workers have begun installing hundreds and hundreds of sidewalk ramps.

All told, 372 ramps will be added over the next few months.

"With this project, every intersection will be handicapped-accessible," Borough Administrator John Gural said. "Any time we can make it easier for people with disabilities, it's a good thing."

Not only will the ramps, which have several beveled bricks embedded in them, make it easier for people in wheelchairs to get around town, but also children and several vision-impaired residents, Gural said.

The improvements will bring the intersections into compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

And it won't cost the borough anything.

The $500,000 project is being funded with federal and state grant money.

David Gerkins, the borough's grant coordinator, said he was surprised to learn the amount awarded to the municipality earlier this year.

He said the project is being paid with funds from the Small Cities Community Development Block Grant program, which tends to top out at $400,000, according to Gerkins, vice president of Community Grants, Planning and Housing in East Windsor.

"With the (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) funds, Department of Community Affairs bumped up the amount by $100,000" he said.

The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs administers the program, with the funds provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The block grant program provides money for economic development, housing rehabilitation, community revitalization, and public facilities designed to benefit people with low and moderate incomes, or to address recent local needs for which no funding is available.

In addition to the state and federal funding, the borough received assistance from the Burlington County Bridge Commission, which paid for the grant application to be submitted.

Without all the assistance, it likely would have taken decades for the project to be completed instead of the projected three or four months, Gural said.

“That's a huge number," he said of the cost of installing that many ramps. "To do that amount at the pace we're able to do it on our own, it would have taken about 20 or 25 years."

With the money in hand, the borough wanted to proceed as quickly as possible.

“The contractor wanted to wait until spring of next year, but we felt we couldn't wait," Gural said. “We pushed for it to be done now."

Several ramps have already been completed, with more to be done daily.

January 24, 2012