Route 9 Roadwork Brings Closures To Toms River, Lakewood

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Overnight road closures begin Monday on a project to repave and widen eight intersections on Route 9, the New Jersey Department of Transportation announced.

The $48.5 million project will resurface about 7 miles of Route 9 from Indian Head Road in Toms River to 2nd Street in Lakewood, the NJDOT said in the announcement released late Monday afternoon. The project is anticipated to be finished in the summer of 2025.

The work also includes widening eight intersections that have traffic signals and adding two more signals — one at Oak Street and the other at the Broadway/Chateau Drive intersection, both in Lakewood.

At seven intersections that do not have traffic signals, left-turn lanes will be added.

The work will be performed overnight, with road closures in both directions beginning about 9 p.m. and ending about 5 a.m. the following day.

The project is broken into six sections, starting with the stretch from Indian Head Road to Church Road. There will be detours in place, the NJDOT said. That stretch is expected to be finished by the end of 2022, the NJDOT said.

The closures are necessary for water main relocation as part of the work to be done at the intersections.

"NJDOT will provide information before work moves to the next section," the department said.

In addition to the widening and the left-turn lanes, there will be 1.6 miles of new sidewalks and reconstruction of 5.9 miles of existing sidewalks, along with the installation of hundreds of ADA-compliant ramps.

At intersections with traffic signals, pedestrian countdown heads, push buttons, and signs will be added or updated. Some areas of Route 9 will get wider shoulders to improve the safety for bicyclists, and guiderail will be updated.

Officials with Veolia, the water company, said it will be taking the opportunity to update the water main along Route 9.

"The opportunity to renew the water main presented itself when the New Jersey Department of Transportation advised us about its plans to rehabilitate the well-traveled Route 9 corridor," said Jim Mastrokalos, senior director of operations for Veolia. "The water infrastructure from Indian Head Road to Route 70 has reached the end of its useful life."