Residents, commuters, and nearby business owners who have been counting down the days until the Alexander Road bridge reopens will have to wait longer. Originally scheduled to be closed for 90 days, the bridge will now remain closed until early December.##M:[more]##
The bridge was closed in early July after being delayed two weeks due to a last minute schedule change. Originally, the bridge was scheduled to be closed until September 25, with the entire project wrapping up by November 27.
However, according to NJDOT spokeswoman Erin Phalon, the detour was extended as a result of the relocation of a gas main that took longer than expected. The NJDOT issued a press release advising motorists of the detour extension. The detour is expected to run until this December, and the project should be fully complete about a month after that, said NJDOT spokesman Tim Greeley.
West Windsor Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh said that there was an undocumented gas main that was discovered during the construction process. “They already worked it out with PSE&G and reconnected everything, but it definitely caused delays,” he said.
Hsueh said that during the detour, township police would continue to help direct traffic during intersections at busy intersections near the bridge. He said that he wants to make sure the state will continue the work in a timely fashion, but said he understands that the structure is an old bridge. “A lot of things happen underneath,” he said. “There was no way of knowing that, but to me, I would rather make sure we do it right, rather than regret it in the future.”
But the extended detour will continue to hurt nearby businesses.
Mark Cuomo, owner of Mark’s Trackside Auto Center — which is located on Alexander Road, directly before the bridge — says that the bridge’s closure through the summer was more detrimental to his business than the faltering economy nation-wide.
He says he is not happy that the closure will be extended and the detour in effect longer. While road signs in both directions approaching the bridge tell motorists that the businesses remain open, there is still a reduction in the number of patrons, Cuomo says.
“When my customers come in, the feedback I get is, ‘I see the signs, but it looks intimidating, like we shouldn’t go that way,’” he said, referring to the sight of the cones and roadway.
In addition, “once you lose the flow of traffic coming past your place of business, you’re going to lose customers,” he said. “That’s just the way it is.”
Cuomo says in addition to the economic impact on his business, he let the contractors use his property “to build the wall next to me, which saved them a lot of time and money, and I was told by someone at IEW that they would take care of me in the end. I’m still waiting to see what that means.”
Gary Carnevale, of Windsor Compost, says he also experienced a slowdown during the detour, and that the extension will have a large impact on business because the fall and spring are his busiest times.
Carnevale is only able to stay at his current location on Alexander Road until December 31, in accordance with his lease agreement with the township. Carnevale says he plans to relocate, although the details for the new location have not yet been finalized.
“The delay should never have happened,” he said. “The bridge would have been done sooner, and we could have gone on moving our material. It comes down to simply a lack of judgment with regard to the gas line.”
By the time the bridge is reopened, it will not make much of a difference for his business because not many people will need top soil or mulch in December, he says.
One local official says he is “astounded” that the bridge is scheduled to be closed longer. “It’s beyond my understanding how we could have allowed the old bridge to be closed before the new bridge, and without a connection to North Post Road,” said Council President Charles Morgan.
Before the bridge had closed in July, Morgan had said that while he has agreed that the bridge needed to be replaced as soon as possible, other methods could have been used to prevent the lengthy closure. When responding to news of the detour extension, Morgan said, “If we would have made that effort, we would have discovered the problems with these undisclosed gas mains” before closing the bridge.
Currently, the $12 million bridge project is about 70 percent complete, says Greeley. “We have completed the actual bridge structure and are in the midst of tying the bridge into the new roadway configuration on the Princeton Junction side,” he said. “The new roundabout is being constructed and retaining wall work continues as well.”
When completed, the new single-span steel superstructure bridge will carry two 12-foot lanes, two 4-foot shoulders, and 6-foot sidewalks on both sides. The existing “T” intersection at North Post and Alexander roads will be replaced with a modern roundabout, and new curbs, sidewalks, bicycle-compatible lanes, and landscaping treatments will also be provided.
