Alexander Street, which has been closed since November 2019 because of three simultaneous bridge replacement projects, is slated to reopen next month.
Work on the bridge that crosses the Delaware & Raritan Canal is expected to be completed by April 20. The bridge is maintained by the New Jersey Department of Transportation.
Mercer County officials expect work on the replacement of the two Mercer County-maintained bridges to be completed later this month. The bridges cross Stony Brook and Alexander Creek.
All three bridges were in poor condition. There had been occasional road closures for emergency repairs to the bridge that crosses the Delaware & Raritan Canal, so it was decided to replace the three bridges at the same time.
Mercer County officials said work on the county-maintained bridge that crosses Stony Brook is nearly complete. The foundation and substructure components are in place, and the steel beams that will support the deck and sidewalk have been installed.
The contractor is waiting for the installation of natural gas and water lines within the project area before completing work on the bridge over Stony Brook.
The bridge over Stony Brook, which was installed in 1989, was intended to be a temporary replacement for an older bridge. Construction of a permanent bridge became a priority because the narrow metal truss bridge could not accommodate buses and trucks, Mercer County officials said.
Work on the bridge over Alexander Creek is also nearly complete, according to Mercer County officials. The contractor needs to finish installing the sidewalks, railings, curbs, guide rail, bridge railings and striping.
The bridge over the Delaware & Raritan Canal, which is maintained by the New Jersey Department of Transportation, will be wider than the existing one that was built in 1948. It will have two 12-foot-wide travel lanes for cars, two 5-foot-wide shoulders and a 5-foot-wide sidewalk.
The two Mercer County bridges also will be wider than the ones they replace. They will also have two 12-foot-wide travel lanes, two 5-foot-wide shoulders and a 5-foot-wide sidewalk.
To expedite the work, the Mercer County bridges were partially constructed off-site. The sections were brought to the job site and placed on top of the concrete footings.
Since Alexander Street closed in November 2019, detours have been set up. The main detour in Princeton for drivers traveling east on Alexander Street is to turn left onto Faculty Road and then turn right onto Washington Road to reach U.S. Route 1.
In West Windsor Township, drivers who want to reach Princeton have been directed onto U.S. Route 1 to Washington Road. They may continue on Washington Road into Princeton, or they may turn left onto Faculty Road to reach Alexander Street.
The timing of the bridge replacement projects was dictated by environmental considerations.
Work on the bridges was banned between May 1 and July 31 to protect warm water fish in Stony Brook and Alexander Creek to prevent sediment from washing down into the two creeks.
Also, trees that were at least six inches in diameter at breast height could not be cut down between April 1 and Sept. 30 because of the presence of the Indiana bat, which is a federally endangered species.
