New Jersey & New York Construction Law Blog

Monmouth County is considering whether to approve the construction of a solid waste transfer facility. Part of the decision will be impacted by a traffic study near the study's proposed site, but the country board will not consider the study until repairs to a nearby bridge are complete. The waste plant is planned to be built at Randolph Road near the intersection of route 647.

The reason that the county board needs an accurate traffic study is because the new solid waste transfer facility will require a lot of additional trucks on nearby roadways. The study is designed to confirm or refute the information about traffic provided by the company proposing the plan. A third-party engineering firm is conducting the study for a little more than $30,000.

New Jersey residents might be interested in learning that the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, which was formerly known as the Tappan Zee Bridge, may have been constructed with defective steel bolts. The New York Attorney General is reportedly investigating claims of a coverup during the construction of the bridge, which spans the Hudson River.

According to news sources, approximately 1 million of the bolts that were used to build the bridge broke during construction. A whistleblower who served as a safety inspector during the bridge's construction claims that evidence about the defective bolts was discarded. He also alleges that the construction company falsified documents to hide the existence of the defective bolts.

Purchasing a home or commercial building in New Jersey represents a substantial investment. Therefore, shoddy construction or defective materials could result in serious financial consequences. The cost often prompts homeowners or homeowners' associations to pursue damages from the builder or property developer.

Construction defects can take many forms, but they share the fact that they reduce a home's value. Costly problems include mold, water damage, unsafe electrical or heating systems, bad landscaping, faulty drainage or structural cracks in walls, roofs or foundations. The law labels defects as patent if they are easily observable at the time of construction. Latent defects do not emerge until years after construction. The designation of a defect as patent or latent is important because it determines how statutes of limitations would apply to a legal case.

Construction in New Jersey is on the rise, according to state reports. Among some of the major projects currently underway in Trenton are a new tax agency building, a new health care project and renovations in the State House. The latter project is a significant, 4-year undertaking that is currently engaged in asbestos remediation. The state treasury department is projecting $1 billion in public spending on projects in the capital alone over the coming years, a higher rate of investment than in recent years.

State treasury spokespeople noted that bond funds were approved for several construction initiatives and that federal funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development had also been secured. Furthermore, they noted that the state was working to improve energy efficiency and upgrade infrastructure in multiple locations after obtaining a line of credit. The numbers were revealed at a New Jersey Alliance for Action seminar focused on upcoming construction projects in the state. The group's president noted that upticks in construction work are often reflective of overall economic improvement.