The project design for the replacement of the Millstone River Bridge on Route 1 is complete and is currently being reviewed by state officials before it is put out to bid.
Fran McCrory, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation, which is funding and the project, said the project will probably be awarded in March of 2009.##M:[more]##
“We don’t have a cost yet because it hasn’t gone out to bid,” she said. Changes could be made to the design after state officials finish their review, she added.
The bridge, which lies on the border with Plainsboro, was constructed in 1928 and rehabilitated in 1959. As it exists today, the three-span bridge is 104 feet long and 76 feet wide, and has been deemed by state officials to be in poor condition.
The new structure, according to state documents, will be 110 feet long and 126 feet wide, and will accommodate six travel lanes with full shoulders, auxiliary lanes for bicycles, and two sidewalks for pedestrians. Construction usually starts 30 to 60 days after it is awarded, McCrory said.
The Millstone River Bridge project was supposed to be conducted concurrently with the Vaughn Drive Connector project, but state officials, removed funding for the Vaughn Drive Connector project for the state’s 2008 fiscal budget, citing the lack of a township redevelopment plan for the 350-acre Princeton Junction train station area. The state did leave in funding for the Millstone River Bridge project, which is slated to be completed around the same time the new hospital proposed by the University Medical Center at Princeton opens in Plainsboro.
