Old Bridge, NJ Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Sidewalk Repair (2026)

Article VI, Sidewalk and Curb Maintenance, adopted in 1998, splits sidewalk and curb duties by property type and by which surface is broken. Any owner, residential or commercial, whose abutting sidewalk is broken or dislodged enough to threaten pedestrians must repair or replace it under § 435-39A. Curb repair is split differently: commercial owners fix their own broken curbing under § 435-39B, while for residential frontages the Township itself repairs or replaces broken curbing under § 435-39C, so a homeowner is not billed for curb work the way a business owner is.

Old Bridge also runs a separate, Township-initiated sidewalk reconstruction program under Article VII (§§ 435-40 to 435-45): when the Township designates a stretch of sidewalk for reconstruction, the property owner may do the work at their own expense within 90 days of notice under § 435-41, or the Township will perform it and assess the proportionate cost against the property as a municipal lien under § 435-42 and § 435-43, payable in installments over up to 10 years. If the assessed property is sold before the lien is paid off, the full remaining balance becomes due immediately at conveyance.

The Township Engineer certifies costs to the governing body, which must give the owner notice and a hearing before confirming any assessment under § 435-42D. Because Article VI does not set out its own fine schedule for a § 435-39 repair failure, enforcement of the duty to repair a dangerous sidewalk falls back on the Township's general Code penalty in § 1-3: up to a $1,250 fine, up to 90 days' imprisonment or community service, or both, for each day the hazard is left unrepaired.