Newburgh Bridge Project Won't Start Until 2013

Originally scheduled to begin in the spring of 2012, the Newburgh Road Bridge reconstruction has been bumped to 2013, at the earliest, according to the Morris County Engineering department.

, when a target date of this year was established.

But the funding, let alone the construction of the project, is far from set.

The county is still applying for federal funding to replace the bridge, Morris County Engineering spokesperson Roslyn Khurdan said.

The entire cost of the project still needs to be procured, she said, and the county is currently waiting approval from the Department of Transportation (DOT).

Khurdan said she expects the money to be authorized by November or December of this year, and all paperwork to the DOT has been filed.

She also said the purchase of right of way and easements in the area were just finalized. Khurdan’s time table for the project to begin was spring of 2013, but the restrictions by the Department of Environmental protection could play a role in the start–or lack thereof–in the project.

The bridge on Newburgh Road, which essentially connects Morris and Warren counties over the Musconetcong River, was built in 1908 as a two-span, stell stringer bridge.

It’s been referred to as structurally deficient and functionally obsolete by the engineering firm, which said its been planning the reconstruction for more than a decade.

The new bridge would be 50-feet wide–41 of those feet for road space–more than double the current measurement of slightly more than 20-feet wide. Its total length would measure 69-feet, 6-inches. A sidewalk has been included in the plan on the upstream side of the bridge, allowing for foot traffic.

Detour for the roadway would take motorists heading north on Schooley’s Mountain Road left onto Route 57 in Hackettstown.

An originally estimated timetable for the project’s completion was set at approximately six months.