$250 Million In Road Repairs Slated

Morris County should see $250 million in road work over the next few years, including $67 million for another phase of the project to rebuild the Routes 287/80 interchange in Parsippany.

Freeholder Gene Feyl, the first vice chairman of the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority board of trustees, said several long-delayed projects are being funded through 2015. The NJPTA is the regional transportation agency for 13 counties including Morris. It funnels state and federal transportation funds to local projects.

In addition to the project at Route 287/80, the county will get $1.5 million for right-of-way acquisition for the long-stalled Sussex Turnpike reconstruction in 2012, and $6.5 million for construction in 2013.

The project focuses on a 4.5-mile Randolph section of the roadway, which acts as a secondary commuter route into Morristown. It includes reconstruction of the messy intersections in Mount Freedom where Sussex Turnpike, West Hanover Avenue (which leads to the county complex in Morris Township and Parsippany) and Brookside Road converge within a few hundred feet.

The project will create a single intersection at that spot.

The county is awaiting final approval of the project by the state’s Department of Environmental Protection, Feyl said.

The project at Routes 287/80 will be a continuation of work begun several years ago to widen exit ramps and approach lanes and pave  the roadways. The project is scheduled to get $36 million for construction in 2012, and $31.2 million for construction in 2013. The total project cost of all repairs at this interchange was $94.1 million.

The 2012-2013 work will see the reconstruction of pavement, and bridge decks on Route 80 eastbound over Route 287 and Smith Road will be replaced. An additional lane will be added connecting Route 80 eastbound and Route 287 south. The weaving distance between that ramp and the Littleton Road exit will be increased. A new ramp will be constructed to provide access from Route 80 eastbound to Littleton Road eastbound. The ramp at South Beverwyck Road will be widened to provide a right-turn lane. The slip ramp from I-80 eastbound to the eastbound local lanes will be relocated to the east in order to provide a longer weaving distance from the ramp that connects Route 287 south to Route 80 eastbound. The ramp connecting Route 287 south Route 80 west will be reconstructed.

Other projects funded through 2015:

• Continued planning for the Long Valley safety project to build a 2-mile loop around the steep roadway and historic bridge on Schooley’s Mountain Road in Washington Township ($720,000).
• Creation of a bicycle/pedestrian path on the New York, Susquehanna and Western rail line in Wayne, Riverdale and Pequannock ($10 million).
• Realignment or Reconstruction of Two Bridges Road bridge and West Belt Extension, Lincoln Park, Wayne and Fairfield ($17.8 million).
• Replacement of the Union School House Road bridge in Mendham Township ($2.9 million).
• Reconstruction of the Waterloo Road bridge in Netcong and Stanhope ($2.78 million).
• Improvements at Commerce Boulevard and Route 10 in Roxbury ($5.8 million).
• Repaving of Route 10 from Route 46 to Mount Pleasant Turnpike in East Hanover ($13.8 million).
• Design and preparation work to replace the Route 23 bridge over the Pequannock River in Kinnelon and West Milford ($4.9 million).
• Repaving of Route 46 from Forest Road to Flanders Road in Roxbury ($3.35 million).
• A Mobility Improvements Study for Route 57 in Hackettstown, Mount Olive and Washington Township ($1.5 million).
• Repaving of sections of Route 80 in Parsippany, Montville and Roxbury ($16 million).
• Repaving of Route 287 south from South Street in Morristown to Littleton Road in Parsippany ($17.47 million).
• Study and design of work at the Route 80/Route 15 interchange, Jefferson, Wharton, Rockaway Township ($4.5 million).