SOMERS POINT – Both lanes of the southbound Garden State Parkway bridge connecting Somers Point and Upper Township should be open before the start of summer, according to the New Jersey Turnpike Authority.
Part of the southbound bridge over Drag Channel was closed to one lane several weeks ago, causing some backups near the toll plaza. NJTA spokesperson Thomas Feeney said Friday that the lane was closed while workers build a crossover that will eventually put traffic on the new span.
Feeney said that both southbound lanes will be open through the summer.
“The closed lane is expected to reopen around May 13,” he said in an email.
All but two sections of the bridge are now in place. The project is scheduled to be completed this year. Once construction of the new southbound bridge over Great Egg Harbor Bay is finished, traffic will be rerouted there and the old bridge will be demolished.
Upper Township engineer Paul Dietrich said in March that the original plan was to have traffic moved to the new bridge this summer, but he said that will probably be delayed because of winter weather. He said traffic could be shifted over to the new bridge sometime in late summer.
“Between the weather we’ve had and the high winds, they have not been able to set the beams,” Dietrich said at a March 7 Upper Township Committee meeting.
Route 52 Constructors, a joint venture of G.A. & F.C. Wagman, Inc., of York, Pa., and R.E. Pierson Construction Co., Inc., of Pilesgrove, is building the bridge under a $129 million contract from the NJTA. The same company completed the second phase of the Route 52 causeway linking Ocean City and Somers Point.
The Parkway bridge over Great Egg Harbor Bay is actually two separate spans. The southbound bridge was built in 1955 while the northbound bridge was built in 1973.
A new southbound bridge is needed because of cracking and rusting on the current span, according to officials. Construction began on that span in September of 2013.
The southbound bridge will be about 12 feet west of the current bridge. When it is complete, NJTA plans to repair the northbound Parkway bridge.
The project also includes the demolition of the Beesleys Point Bridge.
State and county officials worked to rehabilitate the once privately-owned bridge for years, but the price tag at around $30 million was too high. The bridge has been closed for almost 13 years.