The wait is finally over for residents and area commuters who have faced twice the traffic headache since the summer, when the Alexander Road bridge closed for construction since July 11.##M:[more]##
While construction on the roadway itself was completed on December 4, the DOT has set “substantial completion” of the entire project for Monday, January 6, with final completion estimated at February 5. The timeline is dependent on the weather, as a snow storm will hinder the progress of work.
The new bridge over the New Jersey Transit Northeast Corridor and Amtrak train tracks — replacing the original and outdated bridge built in 1941 — is a single-span steel superstructure bridge that carries two 12-foot lanes, two 4-foot shoulders, and 6-foot sidewalks on both sides.
The project includes a new bike trail near the residential homes — formerly lining North Post and Alexander roads — that now have a barrier between their properties and traffic.
This is because construction of the bridge and new roundabout features elevated grade, and pieces of what was formerly those sections of Alexander and North Post roads are no longer along that path. As a result of the construction, the travel lanes leading up to the roundabout were moved over, leaving some of the former pavement of both roads along what is now the wall of the roundabout, creating a visual and sound barrier for the residences. Residents were involved in picking out the materials and design for the wall, since their properties would be facing it once the project is finished.
According to township officials, the pavement that was formerly part of the road will be used to create a bike path that will eventually connect to other trails in the township. It will also be used as an access road for mail trucks and emergency service vehicles to access those residents. The mailing addresses for those residents may be changed to North Post Court and Alexander Court, but this idea has to be discussed with emergency officials and the residents, said Pat Ward, West Windsor Community Development Director.
While the bridge is 90 percent complete, the steel support structures of the former bridge are still in place over the tracks next to the new structure. Ward said these would be removed via crane. “This is one of the things they’re going to do after they open the bridge,” Ward said. “They’re going to close it at some evening late at night, and overnight they will take the old bridge structure away via crane.”
Ward said whether the removal of the former structure will take one or more nights of work depends on the outage that Amtrak gives construction crews. “What Amtrak has to do is they have to switch all of their electric engines to diesel, and they have to run a diesel crew in order to turn the power off on the track. It’s a really big undertaking.”
Emergency crews as well as buses were given time to test the bridge and get accustomed to driving on it, township officials said. Township officials said the bridge was designed in a way, including with the roundabout, to calm traffic coming into the residential neighborhood from the four-lane portion of Alexander Road near Carnegie Center. They said they expect it will take time for people to get used to the new traffic pattern.
The bridge was originally scheduled to re-open at the end of September, but its opening was delayed by two months, to December, because construction crews found an undocumented gas main when they were building the foundation for the roundabout.
According to numbers provided by the DOT, the original construction cost was estimated at $12.1 million. However, costs associated with utilities totaled about $5.5 million, and costs associated with the right-of-way totaled $678,”000, driving the total cost to about $21 million.
“One of the things about the utilities was that Amtrak wanted them to go under the tracks, where before they were on the bridge itself,” said Ward. “For this bridge, Amtrak wanted them to go under the tracks, so that, of course, costs more.”
Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh said that according to an estimate he got from the state, in order to fully comply with Amtrak rules, it was going to cost the state $3.6 million more, bringing the total cost to about $24 million.
All of the costs associated with the project have been paid by the state; West Windsor taxpayer money was not used for the project.
