The completion of the Alexander Road Bridge may come sooner thanks to a change in the construction schedule. Amtrak will now allow daytime work, clearing the way for a new procedure that is expected to be quicker and less invasive for nearby residents.##M:[more]##
New Jersey DOT and IEW, the contractor hired to build the bridge, presented the new plan to township council on June 25. Amtrack, which owns the railroad tracks beneath the bridge, had previously agreed to allow the drilling shafts to support the bridge over 60 nights from midnight to 4 a.m.
The rail company will now allow work during daytime hours, which will allow for the use of mechanical hammers to embed the 40-foot long, 36-inch wide supports in the ground. That phase of the work is expected to be completed over nine days. The change is expected to save $1.5 million in costs for the DOT, which is funding the project.
“I hope this will mean the bridge is finished sooner,” said Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh. “The schedule is still 18 months, but I’m hoping it will happen sooner rather than later.”
Hsueh credits the DOT with getting Amtrak to agree to change its policy on daytime construction. Amtrak had previously forbidden daytime work on the grounds that power to nearby electrical wires would have to be cut off during construction. The DOT agreed that the daytime hours would only be spent doing work a safe distance from the tracks. The supports that will be installed close to the tracks are still scheduled to be driven into the ground at night.
Construction of the new bridge will begin next month. Throughout the first phase of construction, the current, “obsolete” bridge will remain open as the new one is built beside it.
According to the DOT, the crossing will be closed completely for 90 days in the summer of 2008. At that time, the 12,”000 vehicles that the bridge carries every day will have to find alternate routes. The posted detour will take cars from Alexander Road to Route 571, over the bridge above the tracks, to Washington Road, to Route 1 South, then back to Alexander Road.
Those familiar with West Windsor might take Route 571 over the train tracks, but then turn left on Sstation Drive into the train station parking lot, crossing the Dinky tracks to Vaughn Drive, then back to Alexander Road.
The new bridge will be twice as wide, and instead of a “T” will have a roundabout connecting Alexander Road and North Post Road. The project will include adding shoulders and sidewalks on all approaches to the new bridge, allowing bikers and pedestrians use of a section of roadway that is currently virtually unaccessible to them.
