On October 9, Mayor Jeremy Berman reported in his Westfield Weekly message that the Town's 2026 paving program was finished, with about 40 roads resurfaced. That closes out an effort the Town started in 2018 with one goal: repave all 100 miles of town-owned roads by the end of 2026.
Utility companies paid for a bigger share of the new asphalt than the Town did, and the ordinance that made them pay is the same one that now limits who can cut into a newly paved street, and for how long.
Who Actually Paid for the Asphalt
By April 2025, the Town had paved 41 miles of roadway since 2018. Utility companies had paved another 50 miles at their own expense. That's what the Town said in a release published by TAPinto Westfield, which put projected taxpayer savings at $21 million. The same release counted 18 miles still to go. Its figures add up to more than the 100-mile network, and the release doesn't explain the difference, so read them as the Town's working estimates rather than a final count.
The Town's 2023 municipal budget presentation shows how uneven the pace was from year to year:
| Year | Miles paved, Town and utilities combined |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 20.09 |
| 2020 | 3.20, a year the chart attributes to COVID-19 |
| 2021 | 14.86 |
| 2022 | 15.15 |
The same presentation breaks out 2022 by who paid: 5.5 miles by the Town and 9.25 miles by utilities. The 2023 capital plan called for about six Town miles and about 15 utility miles. In both years, the companies digging under the streets were on the hook for more miles of new asphalt than the Town was.
That ratio came from a decision made early on. In 2019, the Town hired Infrastructure Management Services to scan every road with laser equipment and give each one a pavement condition score. Westfield didn't start with the worst roads. It grouped projects by area and lined them up with utility work. Former Mayor Shelley Brindle explained the reasoning in that TAPinto release: "Instead of simply fixing the worst roads first, we followed a data-driven approach that allowed us to group projects geographically and achieve economies of scale."
The 2019 Ordinance That Changed the Bill
The grid only paid off because the companies could be required to pave. The Town Council approved that requirement on July 9, 2019. TAPinto reported at the time that utilities would have to restore roads curb to curb around their openings rather than leave a strip of patch. Temporary patches had to stay in place until a topcoat went down, cold patches had to be replaced within six months, and companies had to give 24 hours' notice before closing a street, except in emergencies.
The program kept that structure to the end. Of the roads on the 2026 schedule, five were paved by utility companies, as TAPinto noted when the season opened on August 4 with milling on Landsdowne Avenue and on Boulevard between Clifton and Landsdowne. Sixteen roads went first because they sit near schools. By early October, the 2026 list included Brightwood Avenue, Sandy Hill Road, Gallows Hill Road, Morris Avenue, Talcott Road, Highgate Avenue, the Tamaques Way and Seward Avenue pathways, and Tuttle Parkway from North Avenue to South Avenue. The last week of work went to Windsor Avenue and to Elm Street between East Broad and Dudley.
Why Your New Street Comes With a Seven-Year Clock
The road-protection rules were rewritten in 2022, and the current text lives in Chapter 24 of the Town Code. The core provision reads:
After the Town has paved or repaved any street of the Town of Westfield, no excavation permit shall be issued for openings, cuts, or excavations in said street for a period of seven years from the date of such paving, subject to the exceptions described herein.
Here is what the code lays out for these "moratorium" streets:
- The Town Engineer keeps a list of every street under the seven-year moratorium, and anyone can inspect it at the Engineer's office.
- Before paving starts, the Engineer must notify utilities so they can finish any planned excavations within 90 days of the notice.
- If an opening does happen during the seven years, the street has to be milled and repaved across its full width for 100 feet around the opening.
- The Engineer may waive that for practical necessity, such as a cul-de-sac shorter than 100 feet, for an emergency utility repair, or when an owner-occupant of a single-family home applies to convert from oil heat to gas. A waived opening still has to be patched with infrared repair so it blends into the surrounding pavement.
Streets outside the moratorium have their own standard. Openings there get infrared patching. Any trench 50 feet or longer requires the road to be restored edge to edge, out to the nearest intersection or as the Engineer directs.
The arithmetic matters for anyone planning work that touches the street. A road repaved this fall would, on the current seven-year clock, stay protected into 2033. If you're planning a project that needs a street opening, the Engineer's list is the place to check where your block stands. This is general information, not legal advice, so please confirm your own situation with the Town Engineer's office or the right professional before you plan around it.
The Roads Still Waiting, and Who Is Paying for Them
The end of the Town-funded program doesn't mean every road in Westfield looks new. The work that remains is being paid for through state aid, county budgets or utility companies.
- Dorian Road, between Trinity Place and Hyslip Avenue. The Town's last planned project will be paved "in the coming months" with state aid, according to the mayor's October 9 message. State aid already paid for part of this season's work. Westfield Patch's August schedule marked both Rahway Avenue and Elm Street as NJDOT State Aid projects.
- North Avenue and Central Avenue. Union County owns these segments. Its 2026 resurfacing list includes North Avenue as CR 610 from Terrill Road to East Broad Street and Central Avenue as CR 613 from South Avenue to Clark Circle. The County lists the start date as TBD. It describes a weather-sensitive, 90-calendar-day project covering about 17.32 county road miles countywide, with daytime closures from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Utility restorations. The mayor noted that utility companies may keep paving roads affected by their own projects, with updates posted on the Town's road improvements page.
If you drove Central Avenue in early October, you may have run into overnight closures. A Nixle alert posted October 7 closed the stretch between North and South Avenues from 7 p.m. to about 5 a.m. for road work. The alert didn't say whose project it was.
What Fresh Pavement Means This Fall and After
The first test of the new surfaces is the leaf season. The Town scheduled early collection for the week of October 19 in the areas with the heaviest leaf volume. Regular collection was set to begin October 26 in Zone 4 on the north side and Zone 9 on the south side, with six Saturday collection dates added for heavily traveled roads and school areas. The schedule is on the Town's leaf collection page.
The longer-term plan is less dramatic. Once the network is up to modern standards, the Town expects upkeep to focus mainly on surface treatments rather than full reconstruction. Capital money that went into asphalt can then go to other infrastructure. The October 9 message touched on some of those projects too. The Council took up planned DPW improvements and traffic-safety measures at its October 6 meeting, and set its next meeting for Tuesday, October 20. Paving updates will keep showing up on the Town's road paving updates page.
Thinking about a project on your property, like a renovation or a heating conversion, and wondering how the seven-year rule might affect it? I'm always happy to talk it through and help you work out who to call at Town Hall. Reach out to Kristen Lichtenthal and start the conversation.
