Officials: Alexander Street to reopen by the end of next week
Alexander Street in Princeton at the border of West Windsor is slated to reopen by the end of next week after the Mercer County and NJDOT bridge replacement projects are completed.
Three bridges were replaced. Mercer County replaced two bridges and
the New Jersey Department of Transportation replaced one bridge.
Mercer County is in the process of completing the final paving and striping for its project. Once the county work is completed, officials said the NJDOT will have access to the portion of Alexander Road between the bridge over the D&R Canal and the County Bridge so final paving can be completed on that part of Alexander Road. Once this work is complete, the road will reopen.
The NDJOT Bridge over the D&R Canal is complete, and the sidewalk opened for pedestrians on May 1.
The NJDOT project replaced the bridge over the D&R Canal between Princeton and West Windsor, which was built in 1948 and was in poor condition. The existing structure was a three-span, simply supported, timber stringer-type bridge with a timber deck overlaid with asphalt. There was a 6-foot wide timber sidewalk on each side with continuous, rolled steel beams below. The existing structure featured one travel lane in each direction and no shoulders.
The new bridge is a single-span consisting of a beam-supported concrete deck on reinforced concrete abutments. The outer edge of the structure and concrete wingwalls feature a wood façade. The new bridge railings and guiderail meet current standards and the design is respectful of the historic nature of the D&R Canal and surrounding area. The new roadway consists of two 12-foot lanes, two 5-foot shoulders, and two 5-foot wide timber sidewalks with concrete curbs.
The Mercer County project replaced two structures – the bridge over the Stony Brook and the Bridge over Alexander Creek, north of the D&R Canal. The existing truss bridge over the Stony Brook was installed in 1989 as a temporary replacement to the structure in place at the time. Construction of a permanent bridge became a priority as the truss bridge has begun to deteriorate and the width was not adequate to accommodate bus and truck traffic. Bridge railings and guide rail were upgraded to meet current standards. The bridge just north of Basin Street over Alexander Creek also was replaced due to deteriorated structural conditions. Both bridges were built with the same roadway configuration as the new D&R Canal
Bridge constructed by the NJDOT.
Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.
That is fantastic news for those that will start their commute back to NYC, as we slowly move out of isolation. It also looks much prettier than the prior bridge, if a bridge can look pretty.