$3.5M OK'd For Repairs To Parkway Culvert, Stormwater System After Arson

BRICK, NJ — The New Jersey Turnpike Authority awarded a pair of emergency contracts on Tuesday, totaling $3.5 million, for damage assessment and repairs to the Garden State Parkway culvert that was damaged by arson last week.

One contract for $500,000 was awarded to McCormick Taylor Inc., a civil engineering firm based in Mount Laurel, to assess and design the repairs for the 66-inch-diameter culvert that runs 300 feet under the southbound and northbound lanes of the Parkway near Exit 91 in Brick.

A second contract, for $3 million, was awarded to Joseph M. Sanzari Inc., a Hackensack-based construction company, to clean up the debris caused by the fire and to do permanent repairs to the culvert, according to the Turnpike Authority resolutions.

The repairs are not expected to require shutting down the highway, said Thomas Feeney, a Turnpike Authority spokesman.

The contract award resolutions provide additional details about the fire and the damage it caused.

The fire, which was reported shortly after 5 p.m. on Jan. 19 produced billowing smoke that forced authorities to shut down traffic in both directions about 5:15 p.m., Feeney said. The road reopened to traffic by about 3 a.m. Jan. 20, nearly 10 hours later, he said.

According to the contract award resolutions, firefighters at first worked to bring the fire under control from both ends of the culvert, through access covers to stormwater treatment devices.

The fire was finally brought under control when firefighters sealed both ends of the culvert and pumped fire suppressant foam into the system from the median access covers, the document said. The fire was declared out about 2 a.m. on Jan. 20, the documents said.

New Jersey State Police said the fire has been ruled an arson. They are asking for the public's help in identifying a group of people, who state police said may have been juveniles, who set the fire and then were seen running from the culvert into the Evergreen Woods Park apartment complex nearby.

Authorities have not said what was used to start the blaze.

Feeney said the culvert was installed during the original construction of the Parkway in the mid-1950s, and the liner, which he described as a resin that cured to the surface of the concrete, was installed years later.

The contract award says the fire destroyed the liner inside the culvert, and additionally caused significant damage to parts of the original culvert surface, and to the connecting stormwater drainage system and treatment devices.

"The roadway above appears to be in satisfactory condition, however, Maintenance staff continues to observe the roadway for signs of deflection," the contract award said.

Sanzari Inc., which chosen for the emergency work because they could get crews working immediately and because they had recently worked on a complex culvert rehabilitation project at Milepost 117.4 on the Parkway, the authority said.

They were called in to clear the debris and clean the culvert, and once the complete inspection and assessment is done, will construct the repairs.

McCormick Taylor Inc. is one of the firms with a contract with the Turnpike Authority but the work to be done is "not included in the original scope of services," the contract award said.

The firm will inspect and assess the culvert and connecting drainage system, then design the repairs for Sanzari to construct.

"This work is being expedited in order to make permanent repairs to the culvert and drainage system as soon as possible," the contract award said.

Sign up for Patch alerts and daily newsletters here, or download our app to have breaking news alerts sent right to your phone. Have a news tip? Email karen.wall@patch.com Follow Brick Patch on Facebook.