Request Title: Manasquan Flood Mitigation and Economic Improvement Project
Request Description: Manasquan is extremely susceptible to flooding due to its low-lying geography and proximity to the Atlantic Ocean. This includes both coastal flooding due to strong tidal action, coastal storms, as well as riverine flooding due to runoff from significant rainfall events. These flood events often overtop dunes, flood marshes, overwhelm stormwater systems, and inundate roads and surrounding areas. Manasquan was one of many communities to experience devastating flooding during Super Storm Sandy. Chronic and pervasive flooding effects 40 percent of Manasquan residents, imposing significant economic harm to both residents and tourism. In his request, Mayor Michael Mangan notes “Key roadways within the project area sit at or below an elevation of 3 feet, leading to an average of 112 flooding events and over 250 hours of road closures annually. These closures frequently strand over 1,000 homeowners and prevent emergency services from reaching those in need.” To address these problems, the Borough has compiled a long-term infrastructure improvement plan to raise roadways, enhance stormwater runoff capacity, improve drainage capacity, and construct floodwalls and bulkheads to mitigate chronic flooding.
Letter of request from Rep. Smith
Letters of Support
Request Title: Sea Girt Baltimore Boulevard Outfall Pipe, Stormwater Infrastructure, and Economic Improvement Project Phase II
Request Description: The Borough of Sea Girt is seeking funding to improve the Baltimore Boulevard stormwater outfall, which serves as a critical component of the municipal drainage system conveying stormwater runoff to the Atlantic Ocean. Due to ongoing coastal processes, including shoreline migration, sediment transport, and periodic beach accretion, sand has accumulated at and around the outfall terminus. This condition has the potential to obstruct the discharge point, reducing the system’s efficiency and increasing the risk of localized flooding during moderate to severe storm events. The requested funding will support the evaluation, design, and construction of improvements intended to restore and enhance the long-term functionality and reliability of the outfall. The proposed solution involves extending the existing 48-inch outfall pipe further seaward to minimize the likelihood of sand burial and maintain a clear discharge point under varying tidal and coastal conditions. Construction will include the installation of a temporary cofferdam to facilitate work in a controlled environment, as well as structural bracing and support systems to ensure the stability and durability of the extended pipe.
Letter of request from Rep. Smith
Letters of Support
Request Title: Brookdale Community College Work Force Training Center
Request Description: Brookdale is developing specialized U.S. Department of Labor Registered Apprenticeship programs in HVAC, plumbing and electrical, providing participants with structured pathways that combine related technical instruction with paid on-the-job training. Brookdale will deliver classroom-based instruction aligned with industry and apprenticeship standards, allowing apprentices to build the technical knowledge required to advance in the trades while working with employer partners. To address workforce shortages and meet the needs of working adults and employers, the programs will incorporate hybrid and accelerated training modules, providing flexible pathways that allow participants to enter the workforce more quickly while progressing toward long-term careers in the skilled trades. The project will renovate an existing unused facility rather than construct a new building, significantly reducing overall costs while allowing programs to be implemented more quickly. The building to be renovated is over 20 years old and in its current condition cannot accommodate the Trades Center. A new roof, new interior and exterior water lines, new electrical lines, panels, and transformers as well as new windows, doors, a handicap ramp, carpet, tile and concrete floors will need to be installed. The existing HVAC system, controls, ductwork, and vents will be replaced, and separate exhaust systems will be installed for the Trades labs. Fire suppression systems and restrooms must be installed. These renovations will allow Brookdale to establish the Trades Center as well as improve the building’s current infrastructure and energy efficiency while making it safe and up to code.
Letter of request from Rep. Smith
Letters of Support
Request Title: Wall Township Tiltons Corner Streetscape Improvements
Request Description: The purpose of this project is to enhance traffic safety and operational efficiency at the intersection of County Route 524 Spur (Atlantic Avenue) and Tiltons Corner Road in Wall Township. This location is currently a three-legged, stop-controlled intersection, where CR 524 Spur functions as the through street, and Tiltons Corner Road is controlled by a stop sign in the westbound direction. The intersection lacks crosswalks, sidewalks, or any pedestrian accommodations. Access to adjacent properties, especially for emergency vehicles entering and exiting the South Wall Fire & Rescue facility, is compromised by the awkward geometry of the intersection. The current geometry of the intersection is conducive to cut-through traffic using Tiltons Corner Road, which is primarily a residential area. In addition, the intersection is the site of several crashes, mostly caused by the acute angle of the Tiltons Corner Rd approach, as well as the horizontal curvature of the CR 524 Spur.
If funded, this project would realign the geometry of the intersection, install pedestrian safety improvements, and introduce signalization and traffic control measures to reduce vehicle accidents, improve emergency response access, introduce pedestrian accessibility measures, and improve evacuation measures during natural disasters such as Super Storm Sandy. This project will improve safety, reduce congestion for adjacent residents, and improve access to local businesses.
Letter of request from Rep. Smith
Letters of Support
Request Title: Shadow Lake Stormwater Management, Conservation and Economic Development Project Phase II
Request Description: This project will provide recreational fishing and boating opportunities for the community while preserving a natural resource and keeping residents safer. At the same time, supporting the local environmental resources will help to support the local and regional ecotourism-based economy. Additional benefits include: improving the stormwater management abilities of Shadow Lake, the greater Navesink River, and the surrounding communities by removing silt and materials that have accrued behind the dam since its construction; replacing the weir structure, removing debris and naturally occurring arsenic from the waterway, and; establishing a modern stormwater collection and storage venue, while preventing future erosion from the banks of the river and protecting local property from damage. Phase II of this project will focus on dewatering the staged dredged material, followed by either off-site disposal or beneficial reuse on Township owned property. Beneficial reuse may include regrading, topsoiling, and seeding to create new or enhanced recreational areas, providing long term community value and ensures environmentally responsible material handling and full restoration of the site.
Letter of request from Rep. Smith
Letters of Support
Request Title: Jackson Township Manhattan Street Safety and Streetscape Improvement Project
Request Description: The Township of Jackson requests Community Project Funding for streetscape and pedestrian improvements for Manhattan Street between Bennetts Mills Road to South Cooks Bridge Road. Manhattan Street is a heavily used cut-through connecting two major county roads, with an average daily volume of nearly 6,000 vehicles. This road provides primary access to several public facilities, including Lucy N. Holman Elementary School, the Holman Athletic Complex, and the Jackson Township Municipal Utilities Authority complex. This is an area with high pedestrian activity due to the public facilities located in close proximity. The Township intends to implement pedestrian safety improvements along the corridor, pedestrian signaling beacons, and potential traffic calming measures.
Letter of request from Rep. Smith
Letters of Support
Request Title: Lakehurst Route 70/ County Road 547 Intersection Improvement Plan
Request Description: Ocean County, New Jersey requests Community Project Funding for streetscape, signal, and pedestrian safety improvements to the heavily traversed intersection at Ridgeway Rd (CR 547) and John D. Rockefeller Memorial Highway (RT 70). Ridgeway Road is the only connection to South Hope Chapel Road, which leads to the main entrances to Navy Lakehurst. CR 547 and RT 70 are identified as critical connecting roads in the Strategic Highway Network, and service the majority of the 3,000-plus civilian and military personnel assigned to the Lakehurst area, as well as vital materials and components transiting to and from NSA Lakehurst. As the return to in-office work was fully implemented at the base traffic congestion increased significantly, causing significant wait times at this intersection, limiting accessibility to NSA Lakehurst and Lakehurst Borough as a whole. Ocean County requests funds to make permanent improvements to the intersection to accommodate the larger volume of traffic associated with recent and anticipated Pentagon workforce policies. Ocean County has committed to making immediate temporary improvements, but requires federal support to address lane realignment, signal improvements, pedestrian safety measures to support continued access to local businesses located at this intersection.
Letter of request from Rep. Smith
Letters of Support
Request Title: South Laurel Avenue Infrastructure Improvement Project
Request Description: South Laurel Avenue is a primary north-south route between the Garden State Parkway and Route 35, carrying more than 20,000 vehicles per day. A railroad bridge, originally constructed in 1914, carries the NJ Transit North Jersey Coast Line over South Laurel Ave in the vicinity of this project. As a result of significant residential, commercial, and office development in the area, road widening was carried out in the 1990s. However, the portion of the road with the railroad bridge remains narrow, and creates safety hazards including frequent vehicle crashes due to limited clearances. Additionally, prior damage to the railroad bridge has due to its substandard vertical clearance has resulted in service delays and disruptions along the North Jersey Coast Line commuter rail as structural repairs are undertaken. This project is needed to reduce crashes, mitigate traffic congestion and improve the vertical clearance at the railroad bridge. The requested funding for this critical project is to advance the engineering phase to facilitate improvements that will include roadway widening, the addition of travel lanes, shoulders, and sidewalks, reprofiling of CR 52, and modifications to the bridge deck to increase vertical clearance that are sorely needed on this heavily traveled roadway.
Letter of request from Rep. Smith
Letters of Support
Request Title: Point Pleasant Borough Multipurpose Community Center
Request Description: The federal funding will pay for the Phase II construction of a much-needed multipurpose community center in an environmentally vulnerable community subject to chronic flooding and storms—such as Super Storm Sandy—on land already purchased by the municipality. The current recreation center is over 75 years old, and the cost of repairs is prohibitive to meet the current requirements of the Borough. Land has been purchased and design and engineering carried out to provide for the construction of a modern, multipurpose community center to be home to all of the municipality’s recreation programs including, but not limited to, preschool programs, senior events, afterschool programs, athletic activities, while also serving as a regional emergency shelter for Point Borough, Point Beach, Bay Head, and Mantoloking in a time of natural disaster and the periodic coastal flooding endemic to the region due to the Barnegat Bay and its high water table. The new center will house a gymnasium, multipurpose rooms, offices for on-site staff, kitchens, locker rooms, and necessary restrooms.
Letter of request from Rep. Smith
Letters of Support
Request Title: CHEMED River Avenue FQHC Pediatric Expansion
Request Description: The Center for Health Education, Medicine, and Dentistry (CHEMED), a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), seeks federal support to renovate and expand the lower level of its River Avenue location into additional pediatric exam rooms. The Lower Level of the River Avenue Building, approximately 5,300 square feet, remains unfinished, with requested funding supporting its conversion 23 fully-equipped pediatric exam rooms, including construction and renovation, ADA-compliant accessibility features, and related infrastructure improvements needed to accommodate increased patient volume. Once completed, this expansion will significantly increase CHEMED's pediatric treatment capacity, and improve timely access to primary and preventative care for children. This investment will create lasting pediatric healthcare infrastructure to support a growing community.
Letter of request from Rep. Smith
Letters of Support
Request Title: Ocean County Utility Authority Sanitary Sewer Pump Station Improvements
Request Description: The Authority owns and operates 40 regional sanitary sewer pump stations across its three service areas, with many of these facilities constructed in the 1970s and still reliant on the original pumps, motors, controls, piping, and valving, and NJDEP-mandated emergency generators that have exceeded their designated service life. NPS-3 is the largest pump station in Ocean and Southern Monmouth County and was originally designed to convey 30 million gallons per day—due to significant population growth in the area, and its overall age, modernization of this station is critical to ensuring system reliability to adequately service the community. The scope of project to upgrade NPS-3 includes the replacement of the original three 125-horsepower Flomatcher speed-controlled pumps with new pumps and motors equipped with high-efficiency Variable Frequency Drives. It would also include the installation of a required emergency generator, replacement of corroded major piping and valving, concrete restoration within the wet-well and surrounding structures damaged by long-term hydrogen sulfide exposure. The NPS-3 station directly serves the boroughs of Farmingdale and Freehold, and the townships of Freehold, Howell, Wall, Brick, Jackson, and Lakewood, with a population of roughly 283,000 in New Jersey’s 4th Congressional District.
https://chrissmith.house.gov/UploadedFiles/Ocean_County_Utility_Authority_CPF_request_letter_by_Rep_Smith_NJ04.pdfhttps://chrissmith.house.gov/UploadedFiles/Ocean_County_Utility_Authority_CPF_request_letter_by_Rep_Smith_NJ04.pdf
Letters of Support
Request Title: Manchester Township Drinking Water PFOS Mitigation Project
Request Description: This project will provide the construction of a state-of-the-art permanent water treatment facility, including the necessary piping and infrastructure upgrades to connect and modernize Wells 1-4 in the township's Eastern Service Area. It will also provide the construction of modernized temporary water treatment to provide PFOS treatment for wells 3-5 in the township's Western Service Area.
Letter of request from Rep. Smith
Letters of Support
Request Title: Beachwood Water Main Replacement Project
Request Description: The Beachwood Department of Public Works’ Water Division is requesting federal funding for the Diner Hook Area Water Main Replacement Project in Beachwood, N.J. This project will replace approximately 3,770 linear feet of aging water mains, install eight new valves, and install six fire hydrants along the 100 and 200 blocks of Cable Avenue, Ocean Avenue, and Pennant Avenue, and the 200 and 300 blocks of Neptune Avenue. Replacement of this aging infrastructure will improve system reliability, reduce water loss from leaks and breaks, and ensure safe and dependable drinking water service for residents in the Diner Hook neighborhood.
This is an appropriate use of taxpayer funds due to the fact it will provide for the installation, replacement, and rehabilitation of infrastructure to improve water pressure to safe levels and prevent contamination caused by non-potable liquids entering the system through leaks of pipe breaks through the replacement of transmission and distribution mains.
Letter of request from Rep. Smith
Letters of Support
Request Title: Pine Beach Water Infrastructure Modernization
Request Description: Pine Beach seeks federal funding to complete the replacement of the worst portion of the water main system of approximately 13,000 linear feet of outdated water mains, ensuring the delivery of safe and clean drinking water for residents. This is an appropriate use of taxpayer funds due to the fact it will provide for the installation, replacement, and rehabilitation of infrastructure to improve water pressure to safe levels and prevent contamination caused by non-potable liquids entering the system through leaks of pipe breaks through the replacement of transmission and distribution mains.
Letter of request from Rep. Smith
Letters of Support
Request Title: Bay Head Coastal Flood Mitigation Project Phase II
Request Description: Phase II of this project is construction of engineered structural and stormwater management improvements designed to reduce tidal flooding, nuisance flooding, and storm-related flood hazards in several low-lying areas of the Borough of Bay Head, N.J. The project focuses on constructing targeted flood protection barriers and upgrading critical stormwater infrastructure to prevent floodwaters from entering vulnerable neighborhoods while improving the ability of the drainage system to remove stormwater during high-water conditions. The mitigation activity is designed to reduce flood exposure from Barnegat Bay and associated tidal water bodies, including Twilight Lake and Scow Ditch, which contribute to recurrent flooding within the community. The improvements integrate flood protection walls, roadway elevation adjustments, bulkhead improvements, and upgraded drainage infrastructure to create a coordinated system that prevents floodwaters from entering streets and residential areas while maintaining effective stormwater conveyance.
Letter of request from Rep. Smith
Letters of Support
