MOUNT OLIVE TOWNSHIP, NJ (Morris County) – Work is scheduled to start the week of Feb. 3 to replace the bi-county Waterloo Road bridge, which spans Netcong and Mount Olive in Morris County and connects with Stanhope in Sussex County.
The bridge replacement will require a 2.5-mile detour for about nine months. The detour will utilize Continental Drive, Route 46, Ledgewood Avenue, Main Street, and Kelly Place.
Replacement is needed because the bridge is structurally deficient and functionally obsolete. The superstructure is in poor condition due to severe rust and there has been some loss of the bottom cord of the truss as well as in the floor beams and interior stringers. Currently, the bridge has a posted four-ton weight limit.
The contractor on the $2.3 million bid project is Marbro Inc. of Long Branch. This project is state funded.
Waterloo Road bridge is a single span steel truss originally built in 1894. It carries about 1,100 vehicles per day. Currently, it is 18-feet wide and 43-feet long and carries two lanes of traffic –one in each direction.
There is a steel open-grid sidewalk on the north fascia of the bridge, with an ornamental pedestrian railing.
The project will require careful removal and storage of the existing trusses and pedestrian railing, followed by the removal of the remaining bridge.
The new structure then will be installed – pre-stressed concrete box beams supported on stone faced concrete abutments and wing walls, with a concrete deck, curbs, and bridge railings — and approach roadway work also will be done.
To maintain some of the historic character of the original bridge, the original trusses will be restored and re-installed. The new 37-foot wide by 40-foot long span also will get a new and wider and new ornamental pedestrian rail on the south side of the bridge.
Advance warning signs about the project have been installed on roads near the bridge to warn motorists about the closure and pending detour.
