Community Corner

South Orange's Scotland Road Improvements Update As Of July 9, 2020

Comprehensive renovation will address water main, street lighting, paving, and traffic safety improvements.

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Press release from the Village of South Orange:

Originally Posted: May 15, 2020

Updated: July 9, 2020

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Scotland Road Improvements - 7/9/2020 Update:

Comprehensive renovation will address water main, street lighting, paving, and traffic safety improvements.

Detours and disruptions will be ongoing from May through Sept, 2020 so residents and travelers are encouraged to seek alternate routes and subscribe to the following information sources for regular updates.

Find out what's happening in South Orangefor free with the latest updates from Patch.

  • Sign up on www.southorange.org for “Water Utility” alerts using the Village’s “Alerts & Notifications” text and email service (click on link at right hand side bar of home page).

  • Traffic Rerouting Plans:For the current phase ending mid-July Scotland Road will be closed from south of Montrose Ave. to Ralston daily at 8:00am through 4:00pm Monday through Saturday.

  • South bound traffic should turn right at Montrose Ave., proceed one block turning left onto Vose Ave., then left onto Ralston Ave. for one block, and then continue on Scotland Road.
  • North bound traffic should make a left turn on Ralston Ave., proceed one block turning right onto Vose Ave. and then to Montrose Ave to continue North
  • Starting Monday 7/13/2020 residences on Scotland Road from Montrose to Irving will have their services switched to the new main. A short interruption of service will occur during switchover. Hang tags are being placed for this notification.

    Once switchover is completed the contractor will remove the temporary water main. New lamps conduit, lamp bases and handholds are being installed in this section.

  • The next Phase of the Scotland Road Water Main Replacement project beginning at Ralston Ave. and runs through to South Orange Avenue will be starting the week of 7/13. The contractor will be installing a temporary water main on the residence side of the sidewalk with ramps at driveways. Parking on side streets is allowed if access to residences is temporarily blocked.

    • Short term work (installation of valves) at the following intersections is planned from 7/21-7/24: Ralston, Turrell, Connett, Comstock, and Taylor Place.

    Detours and disruptions will be ongoing in this section from late July through August, 2020 with work being done on the road in sections. Residents of Scotland Road in this section will receive door-hanger tags to alert them 2-3 days in advance of impacts affecting their residences. Residents are encouraged to note the following:

  • Traffic Plan for Phase III projected to begin on or about mid-July can be found at:

    • https://www.southorange.org/DocumentCenter/View/2360/Scotland-Road-Traffic-Plan-Phase-III

    Contact Howard Levison, SOWU Administrator with questions at (973) 378-7715 x7760 or (973) 432-4664 or hlevison@southorange.org

    The South Orange Water Utility contractors will post hangtags on doors 72 hours prior to when homes will be directly affected. The timetable for the Essex County paving portion of the project is still not set but the South Orange website and social media will be updated with it when the county releases the information.

    Long awaited improvements to Scotland Road, a county road in South Orange, will begin in early May with the recent award of a contract to Colonnelli Brothers set to break ground in late May to replace the water main that runs the length of the roadway. The South Orange Water Utility and their consultant engineering firm, HDR, will oversee the project with help from New Jersey American Water, the operator of South Orange’s water system. Together they plan to replace the 120+ year old water main while adding 39 new LED gas lamp lookalike street lights and improved curbing. When this phase is complete in August, Essex County will take over the remainder of the project that will include repaving of the road, grooved pavement on center lines and curve shoulders, re-centered lanes, shoulder striping, and crosswalk striping, ADA accessible intersections, ramps, and crosswalks, signage, and a raised intersection (speed table) at Raymond Avenue to help slow traffic. As a finishing touch South Orange will plant up to 50 street trees along the route to further improve the aesthetics of one of its busiest corridors.

    This press release was produced by the Village of South Orange. The views expressed here are the author’s own.

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