NJDOT to open new
Essex Street bridge in Lodi and Maywood

NJDOT completes new structure ahead of schedule

(Trenton)- The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) today announced the newly constructed Essex Street Bridge over Route 17 in Lodi and Maywood, Bergen County will open to traffic Tuesday morning, July 1. The bridge was built nineteen months ahead of schedule.

“Opening the new Essex Street Bridge ahead of schedule will significantly benefit area residents, motorists and business owners by improving the local economy and quality of life,” said Governor Jon S. Corzine.

The bridge replacement portion of the project was originally scheduled for completion in December 2009. NJDOT changed its construction schedule and began building the bridge a year early, in January 2008, in order to accelerate construction and reduce the duration of the closure of Essex Street, which was closed from Maywood Avenue to one-quarter mile west of the bridge. The acceleration of the work reduced the duration of the Essex Street closure from eleven months to six months.

"Completing the Essex Street bridge project in this short amount of time is a blessing to motorists, residents, and business owners who were impacted by the construction," said Essex County Executive Dennis McNerney. "Now the intersection of Route 17 and Essex Street will be safer and allow for better traffic flow. I commend everyone involved in this project."

Remaining work on the project includes the installation of new traffic signals, lighting, and overhead signs, landscaping, retaining wall work, the removal of temporary utility equipment, and the restoration of adjacent properties.

NJDOT’s $67 million project to replace the structurally obsolete Essex Street Bridge, improve drainage and ramps and widen Route 17 and Essex Street began in August 2007 and is scheduled for completion in November 2008. NJDOT accelerated the construction schedule in order to complete the project in November 2008, rather than its originally scheduled completion date of July 2010.

Variable message signs have been placed on Route 17, Route 80, Route 4 and Route 208 to advise motorists of construction on Route 17 and Essex Street. Motorists can also access real time travel and construction information online at www.njcommuter.com and www.511nj.org.

NJDOT’s Route 17 Essex Street rehabilitation website, http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/commuter/roads/route17/, lists the specific construction work currently taking place on the Route 17 Essex Street interchange project.