Route 46 Piaget Avenue ramp to be closed and detoured overnight in Clifton

Route 46 single lane overnight closures necessary for several weeks

(Trenton) - New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) officials today announced that the Route 46 Piaget Avenue ramp will be closed and detoured overnight as the Route 46 Bridge over Piaget Avenue in Clifton replacement project advances.

Beginning at 9 p.m. tonight, Tuesday, May 29 until 5:30 a.m. tomorrow, and continuing Monday through Friday nights for several weeks, the Piaget Avenue eastbound and westbound ramps will be closed and detoured to allow preliminary work to be completed prior to the Route 46 Bridge over Piaget Avenue replacement. The ramps will be reopened each morning until this stage is completed providing access to the Christopher Columbus Middle School.

In addition, beginning at 9 p.m. tomorrow, Wednesday, May 30 until 5:30 a.m. the next morning, Route 46 at Piaget Avenue will have one eastbound and westbound lane closed overnight, continuing Monday through Friday for several weeks. One lane in each direction will be maintained at all times.

During this construction stage the concrete bridge bearings, two non-ADA compliant staircases and the parapet along Route 46 eastbound will be dismantled and removed allowing for reconstruction and replacement.

The following local detour will be in place during this construction phase.

Piaget Avenue eastbound ramp detour:

• Motorists exiting the Columbus Middle School wishing to travel eastbound on Route 46 will be directed at the Piaget Avenue ramp to Route 46 westbound
• Make a left onto 7th Street
• Left onto Barkley Avenue
• Left onto 3rd Street
• Right onto Piaget Avenue

Piaget Avenue westbound ramp detour:

• Motorists wishing to take Piaget Avenue westbound ramp to the Columbus Middle School will be directed at Piaget Avenue to turn left onto 3rd Street
• Right onto Luddington Avenue
• Right onto Montgomery Street to Route 46

The $5.1 million federally-funded bridge project will replace the existing Route 46 bridge deck and remove two non-ADA compliant staircases. The Route 46 westbound sidewalk leading to the Christopher Columbus Middle School will be replaced with a new ADA compliant sidewalk. The Route 46 eastbound sidewalk to the Piaget Avenue ramp also will be made ADA compliant and, a new crosswalk across the Piaget Avenue ramp also will be installed. To minimize the effect to traffic, the project will replace the bridge using Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) techniques over two long weekends. The project is expected to be completed by the fall 2018.

The precise timing of the work is subject to change due to weather or other factors. NJDOT will notify the public in advance of any closures. Variable Message Signs are being used to provide advance notification to motorists of traffic pattern changes associated with the work.

Motorists are encouraged to check NJDOT's traffic information website www.511nj.org for real-time travel information and for NJDOT news follow us on Twitter @NJDOT_info and on the NJDOT Facebook page.