Crime & Safety
Project Will Connect Route 571 to Parkway Exit 83, Overhauling Traffic
Intermediate West Way will connect with Parkway in a reconstruction of interchange 83
After years of planning, Ocean County is ready to build a new mile-long connector road designed to improve access to the on Route 9 and Indian Head Road.
The $4 million project is expected to take a year to complete once the work begins in September, according to county engineer Frank Scarantino.
He said the county has owned the right of way for seven years, but designing the road system and getting the permits has delayed the work until now. The county’s freeholders are expected to OK advertising for bids when they meet Wednesday.
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The plan calls for extending Intermediate Way between Route 9 and Indian Head Road and expanding the existing northbound exit and entrance ramps at the Parkway. New signals will be installed at Intermediate Way and Indian Head Road, where the connector road meets Route 9, and the Parkway.
Indian Head Road, which is also known as Route 571, will be widened between Route 9 and the connector road as part of plans to improve Interchange 83, according to Freeholder John P. Kelly.
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Currently, the area is preserved forest surrounded by condominiums on Route 571.
The county will pay the entire cost of improving the county roads, but will not contribute to the New Jersey Turnpike Authority’s replacement of the Parkway bridge over Indian Head Road, he said.
Scarantino said the county project is designed to allow drivers to avoid the intersection of Indian Head Road and Route 9, which he described as a “severe bottleneck.’’
On Wednesday the freeholders are also scheduled to award a $1.3 million contract for the replacement of the Jamaica Blvd. bridge in the Holiday City at Berkeley retirement community. Scarantino said it is 1 of 2 structurally deficient spans in the county. State bridge aid will pay $1 million of the cost. Midlantic Construction LLC of Barnegat submitted the low bid for the project. The engineer said detours will be used for 7 months while the bridge is being rebuilt. The work should be finished by next spring, he estimated.
Sixteen bridges on county roads will be repaved under a contract set to be awarded Wednesday to DeFino Contraction Company of Cliffwood Beach for $558,972.
Included are the Wrangle Brook and Davenport bridges in Berkeley, Midstreams and Duck Farm spans in Brick, Batchelor Street bridge in Toms River, and the Club House, Colonial Drive South and Ridgeway Blvd. bridges in Manchester bridge.