Seaside Bridge Work Complete, All Lanes Open

If you’ve used the to or from Seaside since October, you’ve probably been greeted by lane closures and traffic cones. Not any more.

That work is over for the , as all lanes are open for the holiday rush.

Yet the work is basically complete except for some final touches, said state Department of Transportation spokesperson Timothy Greeley.

“The $3.3 million project is essentially done, in time for the summer season, and motorists should not expect any further impacts,” he said.

Although traffic was impacted with lane closures on the bridge throughout the winter and early spring, this month the resurfacing job was getting done, he said.

“We have reached substantial completion for the resurfacing and deck patching work on Route 37 in both directions over Barnegat Bay earlier this month,” Greeley said. 

The only thing left to do this week was painting lines on the western span.

“Final striping operations will continue overnight this week, but should be wrapped up by Memorial Day weekend (no lane closures allowed on state highways from Friday morning thru noon on Tuesday),” he added.

Both the Thomas A. Mathis Bridge and J. Stanley Tunney Bridge underwent improvements such as resurfacing and deck repairs starting in October.

According to the DOT, an average of 52,000 vehicles travel this stretch of on a daily basis in the summer months.

Route 37 carries three lanes of traffic in each direction within the project limits, which during the project meant lanes all but one lane of traffic during the winter months. That included the acceleration lane from Route 35 southbound and Hamilton Avenue to Route 37 westbound in Seaside Heights.