NJDOT to replace Route 17 northbound bridge deck over I-80 in Bergen County

(Trenton) - The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) today announced that the Route 17 northbound bridge deck over Interstate 80 in Hackensack and Hasbrouck Heights, Bergen County, will be replaced.

NJDOT’s contractor, Anselmi & DeCicco, began deck replacement operations on the western side of the bridge last weekend, shifting both Route 17 northbound travel lanes to the east utilizing the existing roadway shoulder.

The Route 17 southbound ramp to I-80 eastbound – which runs underneath the Route 17 northbound bridge – is scheduled to be closed tonight, from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. tomorrow morning, to shift traffic and install temporary safety barrier on the right (south) side of that ramp. Overnight motorists will be directed to Terrace Avenue to I-80 eastbound.

The bridge deck replacement work will be accomplished in stages so that two travel lanes on Route 17 northbound will remain open to traffic during daytime and peak period hours. Subsequent construction stages will require further traffic pattern changes in the area, including long-term shoulder closures on I-80.

Installation and removal of structural steel and sign structures will require periodic, overnight roadway and lane closures on I-80 underneath Route 17 northbound between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. the following morning. During instances of an overnight full closure of the I-80 Express lanes in either direction, all I-80 traffic will be diverted to the Local lanes.

The $9.9 million project will replace the existing, structurally deficient bridge deck and superstructure carrying Route 17 northbound across all lanes of I-80 and widen the bridge to provide a new deceleration lane on the left exiting to South Summit Avenue. NJDOT will also resurface the bridge deck approaches and replace guide rail throughout the project limits. Overhead sign structures will be replaced and minor repairs will be made to the existing bridge abutments.

All work is weather dependent. The project is scheduled for completion in fall 2012.

NJDOT recently began a project to replace the nearby South Summit Avenue bridge deck over I-80 and Route 17 southbound. The Route 17 northbound ramp to South Summit Avenue in Hackensack has been closed to traffic as part of that project. All traffic pattern changes and impacts for both projects are being coordinated.

Variable message signs will notify motorists of upcoming traffic pattern changes. NJDOT provides emergency roadway information, construction schedule updates and real time traffic information and images at www.511nj.org