Route 202 Bridge Replacement Due to Start 'Soon'

With an approximately six-month project to replace a small concrete bridge along Route 202 just north of the Olde Mill Inn due to begin within a weeks, Bernards Township Engineer Tom Timko said the state has scheduled a public session on Feb. 28 to outline the project and its impact on traffic.

The bridge replacement will be carried out in three stages, according to a letter sent out earlier this month by the state Department of Transportation.

During stages one and two of the project, involving preparation for the demolition and reconstruction, Route 202 will be open to traffic from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday, the letter said.

The small and crumbling concrete bridge barely visible to passing traffic is located in Harding Township in Morris County, just north of the Bernards Township border. Township Engineer Tom Timko told the Township Committee this week that traffic is due to be limited to one lane for part of the project.

"This project will be starting very soon...within a matter of weeks," Timko told the Township Committee.

The DOT, and Timko, said that in the final third stage of the project, traffic on that section of Route 202 will completely be closed in both directions for a continuous period of about seven days. During that time, the old bridge is demolished and a new prefabricated bridge will be laid in place on a substructure to be constructed earlier in the project, the transportation department said.

Timko has said that final stage is expected to take place in August. He also told the Township Committee that a planned detour involves Route 287.

The DOT has scheduled a pre-construction public information meeting for 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 28, in the council chambers of the Harding Township Municipal Building, 21 Blue Mill Road in the New Vernon section of Harding Township, according to the letter from Debbie Hirt, community relations manager for the department.

"Department representatives will be in attendance and available for questions from the public," the letter said. Maps and plans also will be available for the public to view, Hirt's letter said.

Joe Dee, a spokesman for the state DOT, said last fall that the bridge had been built in 1924.

According to the DOT, "the new bridge will consist of a prefabricated superstructure placed on new pre-cast substructure units that will be placed behind the existing abutments and supported on bedrock by a steel H-pile system." Existing abutments and the existing bridge opening will be maintained, the letter said.

The parapets along the bridge wall will be constructed to resemble natural stone in the area, according to the DOT letter.