Newburgh Road Bridge Will Reopen Next Week

It’s official: the Newburgh Road Bridge, connecting Washington Township and Mansfield Township over the Musconectong River and closed since June 24, will reopen long before its projected completion date, even ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Foreman for Konkus Corporation told Washington Township Police Tuesday that the bridge will be complete and the entire area will be free of construction work as of Tuesday, Nov. 18 or Wednesday, Nov. 19.

Final paving was being completed Tuesday morning, Lt. Doug Compton said.

Members of the construction crew worked many Saturdays, along with regular weekday work hours, and were aided by a reasonably dry summer and fall.

The project, which was knocked around for years before work actually began, will create a bridge that will span 69 feet, six inches in length and slightly more than 50 feet wide, including a sidewalk and rails. The two lanes will take up 41 feet in width, as opposed to the old structure that was just 20 feet, causing one-way traffic to pass through.

The left turn lane from Newburgh Road onto Rt. 57 will begin on the bridge itself, rather than between the Walgreens store and Wells Fargo bank the way it is now.

Brian Caruso of the Morris County Department of Engineering told Patch in early October he believed the project could be done in mid to late November, depending on the weather. If the bridge does in fact open next week, the project will have taken less than five total months, rather than projected timeline of six to eight months.

Pictured: Newburgh Road Bridge under construction in late October. Photo Courtesy Washington Township Police.