First impressions are often our only impressions so the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) takes a vigorous proactive approach to not only ensuring that our roadways are safe and well maintained throughout the year, but that they are aesthetically pleasing and present our state in the best light. And it is the state highways that feed traffic into gateway cities like Newark, Jersey City and Camden to which we pay special attention because they create the positive image of New Jersey that we want to promote to every user of our roads.
The photos that accompany this newsletter show some of the areas that our highway operations crews recently cleaned up in Newark, as well as pictures of NJDOT sweepers working along Routes 440 in Jersey City and debris cleanup under I-676 in Camden. Other routes on which we focus include Routes 1&9, Route 21, Route 22, I-78 and Route 280 in the north and I-76, Route 130 and Route 295 in the south.
Each spring following the winter melt we begin our “Clean Up New Jersey” campaign, NJDOT’s programmatic blitz on debris, litter, graffiti and foliage removal. NJDOT crews begins this intensive effort first on the urban gateway areas, often supplementing state forces with inmate work crews, and then moves on to longer highway corridors. And, as we head into the summer we focus our efforts on the gateway areas to our Shore region.
NJDOT crews focus on our urban gateways because as people drive through the state, wherever their destination may be, we want them to understand not only New Jersey’s importance in history but to appreciate its intrinsic beauty that stretches from High Point to Cape May.
NJDOT Promotes
As a native New Jerseyan I dislike the notion that people traveling here may think our state is nothing more than industrial refineries and ports. Efforts to keep our highway system safe, clean and attractive are a year-round activity, whether the focus is routine road maintenance, or responding to debris from accidents or spills. Efforts are also distinctly seasonal as highway operations crews concentrate on emergency readiness and snow removal in winter, fixing potholes and other road repairs in late winter/early spring, litter pick-up, vegetation control and graffiti removal in late spring through the summer, mowing and foliage removal in summer, then winter preparedness as we head into the fall.
As I noted, we understand the importance of first impressions; second and third impressions too! NJDOT highway operations crews take great pride in their work and through it demonstrate the department’s Commitment to Communities. For more information about Commitment to Communities please visit our webpage at Commitment to Communities. If you have any questions about any of the information in this newsletter please feel free to contact NJDOT’s Office of Constituent Relations at 609-530-1982. For NJDOT news, please follow us on Twitter @NJDOT info or on the NDOT Facebook page.