Smooth ride over tracks since recent upgrade BY COLLEEN LUTOLF Staff Writer WOODBRIDGE — Motorists have gotten a break in Sewaren since the Conrail railroad crossing at Woodbridge Avenue received a $40,000 upgrade last week. “It’s the smoothest ride in Sewaren,” resident Bobby Golden said. “It’s 100 times better.” Residents approached Golden, a Sewaren Democratic municipal committeeman, last year about improving the Conrail railroad crossing at Woodbridge Avenue near West Avenue. The timber and asphalt along and in the track had eroded, causing cars to bottom out as they traversed a dip, then the tracks, said Conrail project engineer Bob Peters at a press conference last week. “There was wear and tear on the cars and people towing their boats to the waterfront — some of the people almost lost their boats,” Golden said. Golden, a Woodbridge Fire District 1 firefighter, said the sub-par grade crossing would impede emergency response time to a fire. “Sometimes we would repeatedly have to come to a complete stop to cross,” he said. Golden contacted Ward 1 Councilman Charles Kenny, who called Mayor Frank G. Pelzman, who called Assemblyman John S. Wisniewski, who called Conrail regarding the railroad crossing on the county road. Conrail agreed to fully fund the improvements to the railroad crossing, Wisniewski said. “It’s the perfect example of how government is supposed to work,” Kenny said. Ever since Alvin P. Williams Peninsula Park opened in 2003, “this crossing is getting a lot more traffic than ever before,” Pelzman said. “What’s happening now is that people are coming from all over.” Conrail insulated the tracks with long strips of rubber and increased the street gradient within 45 feet on either side of track, Peters said. The roadwork closed Woodbridge Avenue from West Avenue to Cliff Road from June 13 to June 16.