North Marginal Street bridge deck over
Park Avenue to be replaced in Weehawken

NJDOT will reduce roadway from three lanes to one

(Trenton) - Commissioner Jim Simpson today announced that the New Jersey Department of Transportation will begin a $908,000 replacement of the North Marginal Street bridge deck over Park Avenue in Weehawken, Hudson County.

Initial construction began the week of May 17, with the contractor, Nagi Construction Co., installing safety shielding underneath the bridge in advance of demolition operations and performing substructure repairs. Temporary lane closures will be necessary on Park Avenue daily from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. continuing thru June and early July.

NJDOT anticipates major construction activity beginning the week of July 6th, at which time North Marginal Street will be reduced from three travel lanes to one. The bridge deck replacement will be accomplished with one lane of traffic maintained at all times. Construction is scheduled for completion, with all three lanes reopened to traffic, in November 2010.

North Marginal Street is a one-way (westbound) connector roadway running parallel to the Route 495 westbound elevated highway leading from the Lincoln Tunnel. The roadway is a major carrier route for NJ TRANSIT and local buses. During construction NJ TRANSIT may detour buses during peak hours to the first exit coming out of the tunnel and loop around on local streets to North Marginal Street. The Route 495 ramp from the Lincoln Tunnel to North Marginal Street will feature a temporary stop sign during construction. Weehawken police will handle traffic management around the area during peak hours.

Also, the bus stop at the North Marginal Street bridge will be temporarily closed. Detour signs will be in place to guide bus customers to the next stop at Hudson Street.

In addition to the replacement of the existing structurally deficient bridge deck, NJDOT will resurface the bridge approaches and upgrade the existing sidewalks in the area immediately adjacent to the bridge. Some minor repair work will take place on the bridge abutments, as well.

NJDOT will employ variable message signs to notify motorists of the upcoming traffic pattern changes. Real time travel and construction information is available online at www.511nj.org