Newburgh Road Bridge to Undergo Reconstruction in Spring 2012

A public hearing and presentation was given by members of Cherry, Weber and Associates at the on Tuesday, Jan. 18 regarding a project to reconstruct the Newburgh Road bridge that connects Washington Township and Mansfield Township in Warren County.

The engineering firm, who has designed and will be overseeing the construction of the new bridge, expects the project to get underway in the spring of 2012.

Built as a two-span, steel stringer bridge in 1908, it has been referred to as “structurally deficient” and “functionally obsolete” by Cherry, Weber and Associates Engineer Carl McLaughlin.

"(We’ve been planning the project for) over ten years, I believe," said McLaughlin. "It’s gone through scoping, it’s gone through the NEPA (National Environment Policy Act) federal requirements for federally-funded projects, a NEPA process for studying the environmental impacts and the cultural resource impacts. It’s been through the whole preliminary hearing process. This is the final, approved alternative.”

“Both (Washington and Mansfield) townships have given a resolution of approval of the project,” McLaughlin continued. “Also, the State House Commission has determined there was no historical impact, no cultural resource impacts of what we’re doing.”

Currently, the Newburgh Road bridge is just over 20 feet wide, well below what is considered standard for modern roadways. The bridge also does not currently feature any shoulders or sidewalks, and the narrow width of the bridge makes it inconvenient for traffic to get through quickly.

The proposed new bridge will be a single-span concrete bridge, with the single span measuring 69 feet, 6 inches in length. The total width of the new bridge will measure just over 50 feet.

The width of the road on the bridge will be consistent with the rest of Newburgh Road, measuring a more standard width of over 41 feet. Also included in the plan is a sidewalk to run along the upstream side of the bridge, which sits over the Musconetcong River. This will allow for foot traffic to and from local businesses by area residents.

Once the construction is underway, impact on the community will be minimal. Although a detour will be necessary to take motorists up Schooley’s Mountain before making a left at the beginning of Route 57 in Hackettstown, the driveways affected by the construction—namely, those of the Wachovia Bank and Walgreen’s near the bridge—will be “maintained at all times”, according to McLaughlin. This will allow those businesses to operate fully without major problems.

One key feature of the project is that it will allow traffic to pass through the area much more quickly and conveniently than is currently possible.

“(The widening is) long overdue; it’s always been a point where it squeezes traffic,” said Washington Township Mayor Ken Short. “Traffic backs up dozens of cars during rush hour and during the Christmas holiday season. It’s a long-overdue project; we’ve been working to get this for the past dozen years that I know of. It’s very much welcome, I’m glad to see it happening, and it has my full support.”

Once construction is underway, completion of the project is expected to take about six months. McLaughlin also stated that the road may not be entirely closed for the duration of the construction.