$1 Million Repairs Won't Close Hopatcong's River Styx Bridge

The $1 million River Styx Bridge rehabilitation project, which began in late March and is expected to finish before December, won't close the bridge, a Sussex County official said.

Susan Delmar, the county's principal engineer, said on Wednesday residents shouldn't fear traffic delays until June 15, when workers are allowed to work in the water and could close a lane. Even then, Delmar said, the delays will be "minimal."

"We just want people to know we're going to maintain traffic throughout construction," she said. "We're not going to close the bridge. The impact to traffic will be minimal."

Sussex County received a $1 million grant through the state's 2010 Local Bridges, Future Needs program for the project last year. The rest, or $106,640, will come from county taxes.

The project will repair the bridge's upper piles, secondary substructure bracing, and lower piles. It will also "clean and apply protective coating to substructure members," a county release said.

Rich Parisi, a civil engineer with W.J. Castle & Associates, an engineering company that prepared plans for the repair, said the bridge "is not dangerous, but it needs rehabilitation."

Delmar said notification letters were sent in September to residents who live within 200 feet of the bridge.

The 51-year-old bridge is 598 feet long.