The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) has started construction on a project to rehabilitate the Route 3 bridges over the Hackensack River connecting the Town of Secaucus, Hudson County and East Rutherford Borough, Bergen County.

The $17.6 million project will rehabilitate the two individual, structurally deficient bridges carrying Route 3 eastbound and westbound traffic over the Hackensack River. The Route 3 eastbound bridge was constructed circa 1934 and modified in 1964 and the Route 3 westbound bridge was constructed in 1963. Both bridges carry three lanes of Route 3 mainline traffic and provide an auxiliary acceleration/deceleration lane for entrance and exit movements.

“Rehabilitating these heavily traveled Route 3 bridges over the Hackensack River is a cost-effective safety measure that will keep these bridges active and in service for years to come," said NJDOT Commissioner Jim Simpson.

On Feb. 25, NJDOT’s contractor, Beaver Concrete Construction Co., closed the Route 3 westbound right shoulder between the ramps to and from Meadowlands Parkway for preliminary roadway staging work.

In early March, NJDOT converted the auxiliary lane from the Meadowlands Parkway on to Route 3 westbound into a full travel lane and established the new workzone on the left side of Route 3 westbound over the length of the bridge. Concrete barrier will be installed to separate the work zone from travel lanes. Three lanes of traffic will be maintained on Route 3 westbound, shifted to the right. The traffic pattern for the first stage of construction is expected to remain in place for approximately six months.

Due to the conversion of the auxiliary lane to a travel lane, a temporary stop sign will be installed at the ramp from Meadowlands Parkway to Route 3 westbound. Truck traffic will be prohibited from using this ramp for the duration of the project. All trucks will be detoured to Route 3 eastbound to Plaza Center to Paterson Plank Road to Route 3 westbound.

NJDOT has designed the repairs to ensure that three travel lanes on Route 3 westbound and all three travel lanes and the auxiliary lane on Route 3 eastbound remain open to traffic during daytime and peak period hours.

Temporary lane closures will be allowed on Route 3 in each direction during overnight, off peak hours. These temporary lane closures will not be permitted before, during and after an event at the nearby Meadowlands Complex.

NJDOT will completely replace the Route 3 westbound bridge deck and perform concrete repairs on the substructure. The Route 3 eastbound bridge also will receive repairs to the concrete substructure, along with repairs to the steel truss and the installation of new guide rail. The project is scheduled for completion in winter 2012.

An average of 130,000 vehicles use these bridges each day, connecting motorists to the Lincoln Tunnel, NJ Turnpike, Route 17, Route 46 and Route 21.

Variable Message signs will provide motorists with advance notification of traffic pattern changes. NJDOT provides emergency roadway information, construction schedule updates and real time traffic information and images at www.511nj.org.

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