Route 72 intersection drainage upgrades continue
in Barnegat and Stafford
Project which includes extension of westbound shoulder to enhance evacuation route from LBI to now wrap up in spring 2014
(Trenton) - Construction operations will reconvene on a project to widen the outside shoulder along Route 72 westbound and make drainage and intersection safety upgrades in Barnegat and Stafford townships in Ocean County, NJDOT officials announced today.
NJDOT’s contractor, Joseph Defino Trucking Co., Inc., will return construction crews to finish drainage upgrades work at the Route 72 intersections with CR 539 and CR 554/Bay Avenue, starting this weekend. The drainage work at the intersection with CR 554 will require a series of overnight closures and detours for approximately two weeks. Motorists will be detoured overnight (between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.) using Route 9 and CR 554.
Preliminary construction activities on the project began in early-2012 and work was originally scheduled to complete by the end of that year. The project has gone through a redesign process that had required both DEP and Pinelands Commission approval for all of the redesigned water quality treatments.
The $2.2 million project has widened the previously intermittent roadway shoulder along Route 72 to now provide a continuous 10-foot-wide shoulder between Nautilus Drive (milepost 13.7) in Stafford and County Route 539 (milepost 21.1) in Barnegat. This continuous 10 foot wide shoulder enhances the ability of emergency personnel to safely and efficiently evacuate Long Beach Island (LBI) communities in the event of an emergency. Route 72 is a designated evacuation route and the only way on and off LBI.
This project is being coordinated with the ongoing construction on the Garden State Parkway bridges over Route 72 in Stafford. Work is now expected to be wrapped up in spring 2014.
The precise timing of the work is subject to change due to weather or other factors. Motorists are encouraged to check NJDOT’s traffic information website www.511nj.org for construction updates and real-time travel information.
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