BY ANN GENADER
WEST MILFORD — Work on the Marshall Hill culvert will begin on July 1 with completion expected in six months, Passaic County Engineer Jonathan Pera told the Township of West Milford Council on May 23.
The bridge section of Marshall Hill Road will be closed during the reconstruction project.
There will be detours with signs directing drivers to temporary routes through the area. The annual Autumn Lights Festival will be held on Ridge Road this year because of the reconstruction project.
Restrictions imposed by the state will not allow for construction to begin sooner. Environmental constraints protect stream wildlife, which is in reproductive stages until the end of June, governs the start of the project.
A number of utilities, including a gas lines, also have to be moved, Pera said.
The work will be done in stages. Pedestrian sidewalks on both side of the bridge will tie in with the shopping center on Marshall Hill Road.
A precast three sided frame culvert of similar span will replace the current old structure.
In April, the Passaic County Board of Chosen Freeholders hired Concrete Construction Corp. of Hackensack to replace the culvert over the tributary to Belcher’s Creek for $1,181,000.
A pre-construction meeting at the site with county officials and the contractor took place two weeks ago, Pera said. The existing culvert is believed to be 80 to 90 years old.
Road coating will be put on the surface at the end of the project. Pena said that if the weather becomes too cold, the second coating surface would be put on in the following 2019 spring.