Bridge Commission Outlines 2013 Project

The Route 22 bridge connecting Easton and Phillipsburg is getting a present for its 75th birthday in 2013: a nearly $30 million upgrade.

The -- which controls the bridge -- held public meetings in each community Tuesday to outline the project.

Beginning in the spring of 2013, the commission will begin work on a roughly 3,000 foot stretch of Route 22 that includes the bridge and part of the surrounding highway. The project is funded by toll revenues.

Construction is expected to take 15 months; traffic on both sides of the road will be reduced to one lane eastbound and one lane westbound for about eight months.

Project engineer Brian Raisul said the commission will see if it can do the first phase of the project* at night, thereby minimizing the impact on drivers.

The commission says it plans to repair the bridge deck, repair or replce damaged steel members, install a drainage system, and make lighting improvements.

It also wants to repair several steel beams in the nearby viaduct, repair and repave Snyder Street in New Jersey, and upgrade the toll plaza.

To weigh in on the project, visit the Bridge Commission website.

* The original version of this story did not specify that the plan to do nighttime construction only applied to the first phase of the project.