The Old Trenton Road bridge over the Big Bear Brook in West Windsor is the first in the county to be approved for construction this year by the county Freeholders.##M:[more]##
The 83-year-old bridge will be completely replaced, with work slated to begin the first week of Feburary. The freeholders approved a $522,”928 contract with Midlantic Construction for the work earlier this month.
The bridge, which is 22.5 feet wide and 32.5 feet long, is one of the worst-rated bridges in the state, scoring only two points out of 100 on a Federal Highway Administration ranking system.
“We were aware of the bridge and also that rating,” county spokesman Peter Daly said. The state issues biannual sufficiency ratings, and the rating was from a 2005 report, he noted. But because the rating was so poor, as soon as the money became available to the county, it was planning to do the work.
Daly emphasized that the sufficiency ratings are based on a number of criteria, from exposed steel to potential narrowness. “It doesn’t mean that it’s going to collapse,” he emphasized.
Work is expected to take about six months, and the county is eyeing completion sometime in early- to mid-June, Daly said.
Daly said a detour will be in place during construction, as a section of Old Trenton Road will be closed. The detour will run along Route 571 to Southfield Road to Village Road, and then back onto Old Trenton Road. There will be a temporary traffic light at the intersection of Southfield and Village roads, as requested by township police, that will be paid for by the county, he said. The closure will allow the project to be completed two months earlier, he added.
