Major Rt. 3 Roadwork Near Secaucus Begins Friday, March 16

SECAUCUS, NJ — The NJ Department of Transportation announced Friday that a major roadwork project to replace the Ridge Road and Orient Way Bridges over Rt. 3 will officially begin Friday night, March 16. The project will also add continuous full-width right shoulders along Rt. 3.

This is a project that was slated to begin in February, but was halted at the last minute last month due to an equipment problem.

Beginning at 10 p.m. tonight Friday, March 16, the DOT is scheduled to close the left lane on Rt. 3 in both the eastbound and westbound directions between approximately Park Avenue and Rt. 17 to establish a center median work zone.

This sounds like a traffic nightmare on an already busy road, but the DOT says at least three lanes will still be open in each direction during construction.

The entire project is expected to be completed by the summer of 2020.

What improvements are they making?

When it's completed, there will be a full-width right shoulder on Rt. 3 in both directions.

At the request of Rutherford and Lyndhurst officials, a new sidewalk is being built along the north side of Rutherford Avenue from Orient Way past the Renaissance Hotel to Polito Avenue.

The Rt. 3 median will be improved, there will be drainage repairs to get rid of water and snow and upgrades at the Polito Road intersection, including traffic signal improvements.

The federally funded $26.7 million project has been designed to be constructed in five stages: The first two stages include work in the Rt. 3 median improving both bridges piers; drainage improvements; utility relocation and upgrades at the Polito Avenue and Rutherford Avenue intersection, including traffic signal improvements and ADA-compliant sidewalk ramps.

Stage 3 is the reconstruction of the Ridge Road Bridge, Stage 4 is the reconstruction of the Orient Way Bridge, and Stage 5 will remove the existing bridge abutments from both bridges and provide a continuous full width right shoulder on Route 3 in both directions.

While the bridges remain safe for public travel, both bridges are classified as structurally deficient and functionally obsolete. “Structurally deficient” does not mean a bridge is unsafe. It means that either the deck, superstructure, or substructure is in need of repair or rehabilitation.

Later this year, probably in fall 2018, the Ridge Road bridge connecting Lyndhurst to Rutherford will be shut down for repairs.

Related: Rt. 3 Lane Closures POSTPONED

Photo of Rt. 3 from the Secaucus overpass by Carly Baldwin/Patch