Summer completion expected
in Route 18 bridge project
Second project on Route 18 slated to begin in 2004
Ongoing repair work on Route 18 at East Brunswick’s border with Old Bridge, which includes a newly constructed bridge over Main Street, should be completed by this summer, according to a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation (DOT).
The $9.5 million construction project has been delayed by utility work and the need to acquire as many as four residential properties situated along the state highway in order to widen the road, DOT spokesman John Dourgarian said. The Route 18 bridge crosses over Main Street and the Conrail railroad tracks in East Brunswick just north of the Old Bridge border.
"The project, which will line up the new roadway connections with the bridge, is scheduled for completion this summer," said Dourgarian. "Once this is done, the bridge will be able to be fully used."
The bridge currently in use is a new structure now consisting of two lanes traveling in each direction, he said. When completed, it will have three lanes running in each direction and shoulders on each side, he said.
"We didn’t have every parcel in place," Dourgarian said.
The demolition of the houses was necessary in order to provide space for the widening of the highway on both sides, he said.
Funded by the Federal Highway Administration, the project includes a 525-foot-long sound barrier along Route 18.
A second phase of the construction will add new on- and off-ramps and upgrade the roadway in the area where Route 18 meets routes 516 and 527 in Old Bridge. That $13.4 million project, which will include the construction of a new Route 18 bridge over Route 516, is due to begin in 2004.