RED BANK, NJ – The new West Front Street Bridge (S-17) spanning the Swimming River between Middletown and Red Bank will get its final paving this week, weather permitting.

The bridge will be closed overnight on Tuesday, March 29 and Wednesday, March 30. On both nights, the hours of the closure will be from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.

“The West Front Street Bridge replacement project is in the home stretch,” said Freeholder Director Thomas A. Arnone, liaison to the county’s Department of Public Works and Engineering. “The County appreciates the patience of the traveling public while the contractor puts down the final coat of asphalt and stripes the travel lanes.”

Construction of the new 488-foot long steel girder bridge is scheduled to be completed by the end of April 2016.

“The new bridge was opened to motor vehicle and pedestrian traffic last May, but construction work has continued,” Arnone said. “The old, temporary bridge has been removed, work on the bridge parapets, sidewalks and lighting is winding down and the final paving and striping will move us closer to the finish line.”

Work to be completed in April includes improvements to traffic signals, pedestrian walkways and landscaping. Some final completion work is expected to continue for several weeks, but is not expected to impact traffic.

The new bridge is 44-feet wide with two 12-foot travel lanes and four-foot shoulders and six-foot sidewalks in both directions. The new bridge provides approximately nine feet of vertical clearance above mean high water elevation; there will be approximately 72 feet of horizontal clearance within the navigable channel of the Swimming River.

The project is being funded by the Federal Highway Administration and NJDOT’s Transportation Trust Fund. The North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority is assisting with the project as well.

Additional information about the West Front Street Bridge is available on the county Web site at www.visitmonmouth.com.

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