Mayor: Cranford secures $2.75M from DOT for downtown Streetscape; construction eyed for 2027

Mayor Kathleen Miller Prunty announced that Cranford has received an additional $2.75 million from the Department of Transportation to cover traffic signals and other elements of the downtown Streetscape project.

Prunty told the Cranford District Management Corporation board that consultant Arterial will review public-session feedback and return to present to the DMC in March. Colliers will finalize the conceptual layout in the coming months, and staff plan to submit the design to DOT within about two months; Prunty said the DOT review process could take up to a year.

Director Caren Demyen and Commissioner Brian Andrews framed the added funding as sufficient to keep the project within budget. Andrews thanked the outgoing Murphy administration for supporting the project. Colliers engineer Kevin Boyer said the team is working to finalize the conceptual layout and anticipates back-and-forth with DOT before a construction start. The town is targeting Spring or Summer 2027 for groundbreaking, pending DOT approvals.

Prunty said the additional funding will be applied to sidewalk replacement in the Eastman/Miln area and to drainage work in the project corridor. Chairwoman Kristen Mider asked how public feedback will be incorporated; Prunty said Arterial is reviewing the comments from public sessions.

The board discussed use of the improved space after construction and the need for guidelines to support businesses during construction; Demyen and Mider emphasized planning for how groups will use the new public space and the need for regular Streetscape updates at future DMC meetings.

The project timeline and funding sources were described as follows: an expected DOT submission within two months, a review period that may last up to a year, and a target to break ground in Spring/Summer 2027. No further formal actions on the Streetscape were taken at the Jan. 15 meeting.