Mercer County to begin three-month bridge replacement project in Hopewell on Tuesday

The Mercer County Department of Transportation and Infrastructure will begin work to replace the bridge on Washington Crossing-Pennington Road (County Route 546) over Woolsey Brook in Hopewell Township on Tuesday, Aug. 20.

Officially known as Bridge #216.6, the structure is located west of Scotch Road. This project is expected to take about 93 calendar days, weather permitting.

During construction, the bridge will be closed to all traffic. Westbound motorists on Washington Crossing-Pennington Road will be directed to use Scotch Road, Interstate 295 and Route 29. Eastbound motorists will be directed to use Route 29, Interstate 295 and Scotch Road. Detour signs will also be posted for local traffic on Jacobs Creek Road and Bear Tavern Road, and access for residents will be provided up to the bridge.

The existing bridge carrying Washington Crossing-Pennington Road over Woolsey Brook is a single-span structure with concrete-encased steel beams that is supported on full-height abutments built on spread footings. The bridge is considered structurally deficient due to the poor condition of the superstructure and substructure, officials said. The current sufficiency rating is 29.1 on a scale of 0 to 100, with 100 being the best.

The replacement structure will be a precast concrete culvert on concrete footings, concrete wing walls, concrete bridge deck, concrete bridge approach slabs, concrete pedestals, concrete bridge pylons and 4-bar open steel bridge railings. Roadway work includes hot mix asphalt paving, new striping, new guiderail and approach guiderail systems, excavation, top-soiling, seeding and new traffic signals.

The proposed cross-section at the bridge will consist of two 12-foot travel lanes, one 6- foot and one 8-foot shoulder to accommodate future bicycle lanes. A 5-foot sidewalk will be provided on the south side. A new upgraded traffic signal will replace the existing temporary signal.

Midlantic Construction LLC of Barnegat was the successful low bidder for the project at $1,764,408. The contract was awarded on June 27.

4 Comments

  1. Are you sure it’s Bear Tavern Rd.? I looked at the map, and I believe it’s Jacob Creek’s Rd.

  2. Mario, thanks for the comment. I think the county officials listed the main arteries the bridge is between. I have edited the story. Thanks for commenting. -Krystal

  3. Are there any bridges left in Hopewell that they didn’t decide to replace during the same two months?
    Driving’s been awful this summer with all the bridges out

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