One Bridge Project Will End in August and Another Will Begin

stony brookThe Carter Road bridge replacement project is scheduled to be completed before the end of August, Princeton officials said Monday night.

Once the project is finished, work will begin on the replacement of the bridge over the Stony Brook on Route 206 in Princeton, which is the oldest bridge in the state.

Crews will work double shifts for six days a week to complete the 206 bridge replacement in about three months, Princeton Engineer Bob Kiser said. The work is expected to begin around Aug. 29 and end by about Dec. 8, he said.

The truck detour that is in place for the Carter Road project will remain in place for the duration of the Route 206 project, Kiser said. Cars will be detoured along Lovers Lane, Mercer Street and Hutchinson Road.

Officials expressed concerns that truck drivers will drive heavy trucks over the bridge over the Stony Brook on Mercer Street. They are working with the state to have CR583 signs removed that indicate that the road is a county road.

8 Comments

  1. What are the current rules about which roads trucks can and can not use in Princeton? My understanding is that the state erroneously and irreparabily caused devastation to the bridge on 206 by listing it as a state road. This allowed trucks to drive over the historic site for years in spite of the massive central congestion problems created for the community and egregious disregard for the historic bridge, which would still be in tact but for the trucks and heavy congestion. The 206 bridge is historic to the town of Princeton and a signifigant marker for the Revolutionary War, making it a nationally historic bridge.

    What are the “rebuild” plans, and will trucks be allowed to utilize the bridge again in the future?

    Thanks!

    1. Don’t blame the state.

      “… 1999 [New Jersey State] rules prohibited large trucks from using State highways and county roads as through routes or shortcuts between National Network highways, when they did not originate their trip in New Jersey, or have a destination within the State. Those same rules became the subject of a lawsuit, American Trucking Associations Inc. and U.S. Xpress, Inc. vs. Christine Todd Whitman, James Weinstein, Col. Carson Dunbar, and John J. Farmer, Jr., 136 F. Supp.2d 343 (D.N.J. 2001), the plaintiffs alleging that the 1999 rules violated the Interstate Commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution, in essence because they made a distinction between those routes which could be traveled by interstate trucks versus those that could be used by intrastate trucks.

      Ultimately, the 1999 rules were found to be unconstitutional on the grounds stated by the plaintiffs (see 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 29271 (D.N.J. March 24, 2004). This decision was appealed in the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals which affirmed the lower court’s decision (see 437 F.3d 313 (3d Cir. N.J. 2006), and was eventually appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court which declined to hear the case. Having the 1999 truck routing rules struck down by the courts left New Jersey with virtually no rules in place to regulate the routing of truck traffic.”

      https://www.state.nj.us/transportation/about/rules/pdf/adoptiontruckaccess.pdf

      1. Except for the Historic Bridge dating back to pre-revolutionary times and having also been an important destination of great significance in the Battle of Princeton! That law may have pertained to other roadways, but somebody dropped the ball on this one. Structural and historic relevance should still be of consequence when deeming a road valid for 18 wheelers to drive on, day and night.

        1. Yes, but Princeton officials were too busy ganging up on individual homeowners and business owners (to enforce minutia), and self-importantly broadcasting and advocating their views on “global issues” to launch an effective, well-thought out campaign to stop this real, outside threat to our town. Now we will all suffer through repairs that should not have been needed. And unfortunately, consolidated or unconsolidated, nothing has changed. We elect leaders who spend their time using their leadership against the individuals who elected them and almost no time protecting the town as a whole against outside (or inside– yes you PU!) threats.

          Another example-From early 2000 to now, the change in tone in the way PU deals with Princeton is appalling. From seeking permission to obnoxiously entitled, from partner to overlord, it’s a good thing the town is already named Princeton, because otherwise we would be Potterville. This giant, spoiled Baby Huey tosses Princeton chump change in lieu of taxes, moves our train so that it can turn Alexander Ave into something resembling a corporate office park, sets up it’s own for-profit businesses that take money out of the pockets of small business owners, uses tax-free dollars to suck up land that formerly provided property taxes, replaces low-visual impact housing with an over-sized, in-your-face residential complex on Bayard Lane, empties resident’s pockets with overpriced camps and over-endowed, non-profit causes,…and our town officials jump when they call.

          Overstated? See if you can rouse the mayor for a personal meeting on a Sunday and then haughtily walk away when the problem turns out to be your fault, without so much as an explanation or, better yet, an apology. Wake up! Yes, our town officials are working, but who are they working for?

          1. Have you addressed these issues with the Municipality directky? It sounds like perhaps a group meeting of concerned residents is due to iccur before any further distruction of the historic bridge occurs.

  2. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve damn near been killed by HUGE trucks going over the tiny bridge on Mercer. Of course there should be NO trucks on that bridge, but there are. Many. Trucks shouldn’t be allowed on either bridge. It’s lunacy, and bloody dangerous.

  3. The Stony Brook Bridge post-dates the Revolution, as does he Millstone River bridge to Kingston. There were wooden bridges at these sites during the Revolution and they were partially destroyed and rebuilt several times from December 1776 to June 1777. Most of the skirmishing occurred at the Kingston Bridge. The remnants of Worth’s Mill are still visible at the Stony Brook bridge. It is an historic site that deserves more attention and better preservation efforts. It was once a beautiful spot, a popular swimming area for Princeton students and for photographers.

    1. Thanks for this extremely helpful information! The first shots of the battle of Princeton were in fact begun on the propertty directly adjacent to the historic bridge in Princeton on 206. That means that the historic bridge did indeed play a significant role in the battle intself. It is important that the current Municipality own to its responsibilities now to repair what is historic and deserves historic repairs and correct the current roadway usage regulations that allow usage beyond the bridges capacity. Yes the restoration must occur but tge Historic value must remain. I would guess that the timely rebuilds right around the battles in 1776-77, would represent the actual significance of those bridges and areas to the war itself. The bridge remains historic.

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