Liberty Avenue to be closed and detoured under Route 495 through the summer as bridge deck replacement advances

Local access to be maintained while work under the bridge takes place

(Trenton) -New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) officials today announced that Liberty Avenue is scheduled to be closed and detoured at the intersection of Paterson Plank Road underneath Route 495 beginning Monday, July 1 as the bridge deck replacement project advances in North Bergen.

Beginning at 9 a.m. Monday, July 1 and continuing for approximately two months, NJDOT’s contractor, IEW Corp, is scheduled to close and detour Liberty Avenue at the intersection of Paterson Plank Road underneath Route 495 to work on the substructure of the exit ramp to Route 1&9 northbound. Local access for residents and businesses will be maintained from Union Turnpike. The following detour will be in place:

Paterson Plank Road to Liberty Avenue northbound detour

• Motorists wishing to turn from Paterson Plank Road onto Liberty Avenue northbound will be directed to continue north on Paterson Plank Road
• Turn right at the traffic signal onto Union Turnpike
• Turn right onto Liberty Avenue

Project Overview
The $90.3 million state-funded project began in September 2017. The project to rehabilitate the nine-span viaduct includes repairs and reconstruction of the bridge deck, replacement and strengthening of deteriorated structural steel, and the repair and painting of the substructure. Construction will be accomplished in stages by first making improvements to local streets in the surrounding areas that will need to handle some of the diverted traffic during bridge construction.

Community Outreach
NJDOT created a project-specific website – www.RestoreNJ495.com – which contains a wealth of information about the Route 495 Bridge rehabilitation, and will be updated with relevant new information as work progresses. The Department is carefully coordinating the Route 495 Bridge rehabilitation project with other regional transportation infrastructure projects to minimize traffic congestion.

The Department has a project hotline telephone number, 201.408.8495, and email, DOTOutreachRT495@dot.nj.gov. Anyone who has questions, concerns, or suggestions is encouraged to contact the Project Outreach Team as work progresses.

NJDOT will be using Variable Message Signs to provide advance notification to motorists of traffic pattern changes associated with the work.  The precise timing of the work is subject to change due to weather or other factors.

Please note, the NJDOT Communications Office has a new phone number – 609-963-1975.