Franklin Park’s paving program chips away at resurfacing some of borough's oldest roads

Franklin Park’s fall paving program is in full swing, covering 2.76 miles of roads this year.

This is a drop in paving miles from previous years because of budget cuts, according to borough Manager Zach Filous.

Historically, the borough averaged about 4.5 miles of road paving each year. Budgetary restrictions have reduced that to 2.5 to 2.7 miles per year, Filous said.

The roads are on a 15-year paving cycle.

On the 2025 list of roads being paved this fall are Ashbury Lane; Antram and Prince Andrew courts; and Broad Hill, Woodview, King John, King Henry, King Charles, King David, King James, King Albert, King John and King William drives.

These roads are budgeted at $485,760, according to the 2025 Franklin Park budget.

“This area of Franklin Park has some of the oldest roads, and they are being resurfaced this year,” Filous said.

While roads are systematically addressed every 15 years, the borough inspects roads every spring, when everything is thawed, Filous said. Therefore, roads are not only addressed based on the paving schedule but also by sight, he said.

Filous said he and council also do “road tours,” visiting the roads budgeted to be paved and elsewhere. He said they try to keep to the 15-year schedule and do not take requests for roads outside of that.

“We do not take resident requests at this time. We’re trying to look at the borough in a holistic view, and residents are very spatial to where they live,” he said.

But residents are welcome to contact the borough regarding regular road maintenance concerns, such as potholes.

Another change is the removal of concrete wedge curbs along the roads.

Many of the Franklin Park communities built in the late 1990s and early 2000s used concrete for wedge curbs. However, the borough was paying approximately $250,000 per year to update and maintain these curb systems.

Plus, any new concrete curbs that needed to be replaced often wouldn’t match the aging concrete, so it would “almost look like a checkerboard,” Filous said.

The borough made the decision to use wedge asphalt. It’s easier to remove, mill, install, maintain and is less expensive, he said.

They are only replacing concrete curbs that have exceeded their life expectancy.

The borough also adopted a new paving technique for additional savings, Filous said. For the past two years, roads that are being repaved are milled down less, and old base is reused while adding less base.

But producing a good product is still a priority.

“We want to make sure we have safe and serviceable roads for our community,” Filous said.

Less paving means less expenses.

Comparatively, in 2023, the paving budget was at $1.1 million for 4.1 miles, according to Filous.

“At the moment, I would like to get our paving back up to 4.5 miles, but our finances really dictate what we can do,” he said.