Newburgh Road Closes Tuesday, Bridge Replacement to End in 2015

It’s official: The Newburgh Road Bridge Replacement Project is set to begin at 7 a.m. Tuesday, June 24, and will close the roadway connecting Morris and Warren Counties for anywhere between six and eight months.

Washington Township Police Lt. Doug Compton said Monday the county engineering department gave word that the project was a go, and that the road closures would begin Tuesday morning.

Information from the Morris County Department of Engineering in April showed the project would begin June 15, but was then moved back a few more days to accommodate the official end to the school year in the area.

The current structure was built in 1908 and has been deemed structurally deficient and functionally obsolete. Plans to replace the bridge have been in the works for more than a decade.

The bridge is currently slightly more than 20-feet wide, and the new structure will be a total of 50-feet wide – 41-feet of which will be used for roadway.

Detours will take motorists heading north on Schooley’s Mountain Road to Hackettstown or Mansfield down to the light at the intersection of Rt. 57 and Rt. 182, where drivers will need to make a left hand turn to reach their original destination. 

Drivers can also use alternate routes like Kings Highway and Stephensburg Road, off of Pleasant Grove, to reach Mansfield Township.  

At the same time, another bridge replacement project is underway on Rt. 46 connecting Washington Township to Hackettstown. That project goes on during the overnight hours from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. and keeps the roadway down to one alternating lane of travel.

From Aug. 19 to Aug. 26 the stretch of roadway between the intersection of Rt. 46 and East Avenue and the intersection of Rt. 46 and Rt. 182 in Hackettstown will be completely closed, Compton said. On Aug. 27, the road will re-open to allow for one alternating lane of travel.

That traffic pattern is expected to remain in effect until the project’s completion in March 2015.