Washington Twp. Bridge Repairs to Begin -- Detours Likely for a Few Weeks

Published on July 05, 2019

Deck replacement on a Morris County bridge on Naughright Road in Washington Township will begin immediately to deal with problems discovered earlier this week, connected to a municipal road milling and paving project, that caused closure of the bridge on Wednesday. (JPG, 84KB)

Work to remove the bridge deck is expected to start on Saturday. The project would include deck replacement and base paving. The township would then complete surface paving of the roadway across the new bridge deck east to Bartley Road.

The situation was discovered at about 2 p.m. Wednesday by a township-hired contractor, whose crew was working on one of two adjacent bridges that cross the South Branch of the Raritan River at the time the problem occurred.

County crews quickly assessed the damage and determined the bridge had to be closed for safety reasons.

Washington Township Police closed the bridge at Bartley Road and Fairview Ave and set up a detour. Police have been allowing local traffic to access homes in the vicinity.

Morris County recently had entered into a contract with an engineering firm to begin design work that would lead to future full replacement of this bridge. County officials met today at the site with representatives of that engineering firm, Van Cleef Engineering, and municipal officials. After further inspection of the bridge, it was determined the entire deck needs to be replaced.

The county Bridge Division will undertake an emergency deck replacement project that is expected to take a few weeks to complete.

Naughright Road is a major motoring artery in Washington Township and it offers a bypass to the "big turn'' on Schooley's Mountain Road.