Watchung Ave. Sidewalks Completed Before Start of School

School children will have a safer walk to school along Watchung Avenue in the all.

Chatham Borough Engineer Vincent J. DeNave told the council Monday that the installation of sidewalks along Watchung Avenue is complete, and the curb and sidewalk improvements throughout the borough will be completed before school starts.

Sally Myers, a resident of Chatham Borough who is legally blind and requires a guide dog, has pleaded with the borough council for a sidewalk along Watchung Avenue for years.

"Our neighborhood, in and out, is an unsafe passageway," Myers told the council in 2010, speaking of the area along Watchung Avenue between Commerce Street and Hillside Avenue. "Traffic by everybody's description is increasing, particularly truck traffic. ... Traffic is getting heavier all the time."

Another section of town will soon have sidewalks as well. DeNave will meet with Kings Road residents Monday evening on the third floor of the Chatham Borough Municipal Building to discuss the upcoming traffic improvements along Kings Road, which will include the installation of a sidewalk along the north side of the street.