Livingston Receives $505K Grant for Pedestrian Safety Near Heritage Middle School

Livingston secured $505,000 from the Safe Routes to School program. The money will pay for pedestrian safety upgrades on West Northfield Road and Hillside Avenue, creating a protected walking path to Heritage Middle School.

Town leaders plan a public workshop on Wednesday, Feb. 11 from 6 to 7 p.m. in the training room at Town Hall, 357 South Livingston Ave. Residents can look at early construction plans, pose questions, and offer input to the team managing this work.

Per Patch.com and according to township administrators, “The Township of Livingston has received a grant through the Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program to construct pedestrian safety improvements along West Northfield Road from State Route 10 to South Livingston Avenue and Hillside Avenue from Foxcroft Drive to West Northfield Road. The goal of the proposed project is to improve the existing conditions and create a safe pedestrian corridor to Heritage Middle School.”

This Feb. 11 session marks the first of two workshops during the engineering phase. Another meeting will occur when the final blueprints are ready.

West Northfield Road stretches from State Route 10 to South Livingston Avenue. Both walkers and drivers use this street. Sidewalks along this stretch differ — some are ADA compliant concrete while others are non-compliant asphalt. Hillside Avenue has two lanes with non-compliant asphalt sidewalk on the south side.

Current asphalt sidewalks fail to meet ADA standards and Pedestrian Accessible Route requirements. This makes walking difficult and blocks access for people with disabilities.

The work will boost safety by replacing old sidewalks with ones that follow current ADA rules. Plans call for concrete sidewalks, concrete vertical curbs where needed, ADA accessible curb ramps, and fresh crosswalk striping at ramp locations.

Every driveway apron where sidewalk construction happens will be rebuilt to satisfy ADA requirements. How much gets reconstructed depends on the grading needed to match existing ground slopes.

The early engineering phase should wrap up by spring 2026. Final design kicks off after that and runs through summer 2027. Construction starts in fall 2027 and should take three months.

The Federal TAP program, managed by NJDOT Local Aid, will reimburse all expenses for engineering design, construction, and inspection.

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