Bennetts Lane Bridge Replacement Underway; Expected To Take Two Months

Work has begun on a bridge replacement project on Bennetts Lane.

Work has begun on a Bennetts Lane bridge replacement project.

A segment of the road between Route 27 and Clyde Road was closed Oct. 5, and will remain so for about the next two months, said Matthew Loper, an engineer with the Somerset County Engineering Division.

The $449,513 project is being done by Scafar Contracting of Newark. The bid was awarded by Somerset County, which owns the bridge, in June, Loper said.

The bridge, which has been declared “structurally deficient” and “functionally obsolete,” is located less than a mile north of Route 27, and spans an unnamed tributary of the Six Mile Run.

The county first announced the project in 2013.

The bridge needs to be replaced because is superstructure – concrete-encased steel stringers supporting a concrete deck – is failing. The structure will be replaced with a single, pre-cast concrete arch.

The current bridge was considered functionally obsolete because it has a road width of about 19 feet. The new bridge will correct that with a road width of about 30 feet.

Loper said that a detour will be posted using Lincoln Highway (NJ Route 27), Veronica Avenue, Hamilton Street (CR 514), Amwell Road (CR 514), South Middlebush Road (CR 615). He said the segment of Bennetts Lane between Clyde Road and South Middlebush Road will be open to local traffic for the duration of the project.

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