In a project that’s more finesse than brute force, a New Jersey contractor is sailing toward completion of the final phase of the most expensive — currently more than $160 million — and possibly most complex highway job let by the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT).
Union Paving and Construction, Irvington, NJ, is the prime contractor for Phase B of the Route 21 Viaduct Replacement Project in Newark, NJ. When it’s complete, the Route 21 Viaduct Replacement Project will provide not only a smooth interchange for a complex highway mix, but also a true gateway to the city. It will finally make sense out of a “spaghetti bowl” of roads which came together, not always smoothly, over the past 70 years.
The project, just north of the Newark International Airport, extends from Routes U.S. 1 and 9, south of I-78 to Murray Street, in Newark, for a total length of 1.1 mi. (1.8 km), not including ramps and widenings. The Route 21 Viaduct provides a vital highway link between the City of Newark, the Newark International Airport and other parts of northeastern New Jersey via Interstate Route I-78 and Routes U.S. 1 and 9, and U.S. 22. In addition to its vital location, the viaduct carries a heavy traffic volume projected to exceed 109,000 vehicles per day by 2015. The existing viaduct is structurally deficient and functionally obsolete. The 44-ft. (13.4 m) existing roadway width on the viaduct provides two-way traffic flow on four, 11 ft. (3.3 m) wide lanes with no median barrier or shoulders. The existing viaduct is geometrically substandard in addition to being overstressed under current loading conditions.
The project also is at the most active hub of three modes of transportation —trains, planes and automobiles. The Amtrak Northeast Corridor and Conrail rail lines are the busiest in the United States, with more than 400 trains a day. Likewise, adjoining Newark Airport, access to which the project is designed to improve, is the busiest airport in the New York metropolitan area and ranks with Chicago’s O’Hare and Atlanta’s Hartsfield as the most active in the country. And the New Jersey Turnpike, which the project feeds, is likewise one of the most heavily traveled highways in the United States.
The Route 21 Viaduct Replacement Project ties together the disparate parts and loose ends of highways whose construction spans over half a century. The original four-lane Route 21 viaduct was built in the 1920s and Routes 1 and 9 are similarly the first multilane divided highways built in the country. Interstate 78, on the other hand, is an up-to-date road finished in the 1980s. But their interchange has been of necessity, a confusing patchwork of entrances and exits. In some places, “you can’t get there from here” even though you may see the road you want almost right next to you.
In addition to replacing the viaduct, the project includes connectors, new lanes and ramps involving Routes 1, 9, 22, 27 and Interstate 78, for a total project length of 3.2 mi. (5.2 km). Contract value of the current Phase B of the project, being done by Union Paving and Contracting, is pegged at $104 million. George A. Harms Construction, Howell, NJ, performed the previous advance and Phase A contracts, bringing the total value of the project to more than $160-million — NJDOT’s largest job to date.
Harms completed critical substructures and the steel structures for the new viaduct for Route 21 as it passes over the Amtrak Northeast Corridor and Conrail rail lines. Union Paving’s Phase B includes the rest of the interchange work at the north and south ends of the viaduct and the removal of the old one.
Currently, Union Paving is one-third of the way through the project and proceeding on schedule for completion by December 2003. According to Bruce Riegel, project engineer for the NJDOT, this is probably the hard part of the entire job, with the most difficult part — demolition of the old Route 21 viaduct — scheduled for early next year. At this time the contractor will have short “windows” when Amtrak shuts down the Northeast Corridor to allow for removal of the viaduct. The first milestone is the opening of the Route 21 North Connector, joining Route 22 east and Routes 1 and 9 north to the new Route 21 Viaduct, scheduled for September 2002. “’Right now we’re running neck and neck on a tight schedule,” said Riegel.
According to John Corbo of NJDOT, staging is a major factor in this contract. It is basically broken into six major stages that are based on major shifts in traffic patterns during construction. Temporary ramps, roadway widening, traffic signals and detours will be provided in order to maintain adequate level of service for the traffic flow during all phases of construction. Consequently, “there are more than 80 different, separate plans for traffic staging.”
The complexity explains how Union is approaching the job. On one part of the job, crews pour columns and pier caps for the many ramp and highway supports. To build the pier caps, Union used a Grove hydraulic rough terrain crane with an auxiliary jib, aided by Grove aerial work platforms, to spot rebar assemblies and set forms in place. A truck concrete pump then placed concrete in the cap forms. On the spans, Union is using staged construction.
After the steel stringer beams are in place, workers weld cross members, then put concrete forms in place, place rebar and pour concrete. It’s a job where finesse in using equipment and careful attention to many details count.
On the other hand, at the northern end of the viaduct where it “touches down” in Newark, a fleet of Cat excavators and wheel loaders are busily relocating utility lines for a new Broad Street interchange and a new entrance into the Ironbound section, separated from the rest of the city by the Northeast Corridor rail lines.
The Route 21 Viaduct project, when complete, will be more than just functional, according to Bahman Izadmehr, director of transportation for the city of Newark. “We think it will be one of the most beautiful highway interchanges in the state with decorative brick, granite and formed facings on the concrete. We are making every effort to make this a dramatic entrance into the city of Newark. The ramps themselves will provide dramatic vistas of the skylines of both New York City and Newark.” CEG
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