HILLSBOROUGH: Bridge on Homestead Road set to reopen this weekend

   State transportation officials say they expect to reopen Homestead Road this weekend.
   Rebuilding the bridges that carry traffic over the railroad tracks on Hillsborough and Homestead roads is part of the work in the contract for the first part of the Route 206 bypass.
   Work on the Hillsborough Road bridge was completed and the roadway was reopened in March. Shortly thereafter, the state closed Homestead Road between Route 206 and Willow Road to reconstruct the bridge.
   The Homestead Road bridge was originally scheduled to open in October following six months of work to replace the bridge deck over the CSX railroad. The clearance was delayed to November and Hurricane Sandy further pushed back the reopening.
   The state broke ground on the 3.6-mile Hillsborough bypass project in August 2010, with the project being constructed in stages. The first $43 million contract is building the center portion of the bypass between Amwell Road and Hillsborough Road.
   Final completion of the first portion of the Route 206 bypass has been pushed off to July.
   This portion of the bypass will feature one travel lane in each direction, the state said. No part of the mainline of the bypass constructed under this project is planned to be open to traffic at this time.
   Work under this contract includes building several new bridges, including a new bridge built on Amwell Road to carry motorists on the local roadway over the new bypass.
      Remaining work to be completed on the first portion includes construction of concrete barrier curb, final paving, final striping, final sign installation and rumble strips. There is also incidental work to complete, such as a right-of-way fence, landscaping, removal of silt fence and final cleanup.
   The state said from the start the construction of the bypass has been planned to unfold over multiple years and multiple contracts.
   In the capital program for fiscal year 2013 the state has identified funding for the final design of the remaining project.
   In addition, the sate has $10 million in fiscal year 2013 for a separate contract that will cover the utility construction, tree clearing, grading and some drainage work in advance of the second major part of the overall project, which will complete the bypass. Construction funding is targeted for fiscal years 2017 and 2018.