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Wednesday, October 28, 2015

NJ Transit's big Watchung Avenue bridge move coming this weekend


For months, crews have been constructing new bays
to replace the temporary bridge over Watchung Avenue.


This temporary bridge over Watchung Avenue
will be removed and replaced overnight this weekend.


As part of the move, Watchung Avenue and North Avenue
are being closed to vehicular traffic.


The project has included masons meticulously cleaning
and repointing the original stonework at the crossing.
 

In addition to all the Halloween activities this weekend, New Jersey Transit is planning to pull off the biggest trick and treat -- installing the new bridge over the Watchung Avenue crossing.

For months now, crews have been painstakingly assembling the pieces of what is a giant jigsaw puzzle to replace the temporary bridge over Watchung Avenue that has been in place for the past couple of months.

Gavett Place has been closed off as the assembly area for the two bays that have been erected from parts fabricated elsewhere. That work is now done.

As the move approaches, North Avenue will be closed to traffic from Friday evening through Monday, November 2.

After the last train leaves the Plainfield station on Friday night, crews will remove the temporary bridge over Watchung Avenue.

The two newly assembled bays will be hoisted and moved from Gavett Place through the North Avenue Plaza to their new home over Watchung Avenue, with two fully restored original end pieces placed on either side to make a completed four-bay crossing.

Crews hope to finish the work overnight and have the Raritan Valley Line running over the new bridge in the morning.

As part of the project, masons have cleaned the stonework marking the Watchung Avenue underpass.

Once the new bridge is in place and the temporary one dismantled and removed, Gavett Place will resume work on the last phase of this major project -- fabricating a new bridge over the Park Avenue crossing.


  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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