Yearlong Overpass Shift, Bus Detours Start Saturday

A yearlong construction project at the Macarthur Boulevard overpass over Route 17 in Mahwah is officially scheduled to begin this weekend.

The overpass’s two travel lanes, one going in each direction, will both be shifted to the east side of the bridge when construction starts Saturday, The New Jersey Department of Transportation announced Thursday afternoon.

“The new traffic pattern, scheduled to be implemented on Saturday, June 21, will allow NJDOT’s contractor, Konkus Corporation, to begin the replacement of the bridge deck on the westbound half of the structure that spans across all lanes of Route 17,” the NJDOT announced in a release.

The $2 million federally-funded construction project will completely replace components of the bridge that the NJDOT deemed “structurally deficient.”

Initially, the state proposed a construction plan that would have closed the road entirely in one direction at a time, but officials from both Mahwah and Ramsey requested a plan that allowed for two-way traffic throughout the duration of construction.

Though likely alleviating local traffic impacts, the decision did lengthen the timetable for the project, which the DOT estimates will not be completed until next spring.

Cars will not be detoured as a result of the construction, but large trucks and buses will be.

Trucks, buses and school buses will be detoured to either the West Ramapo Avenue u-turn on the northbound side, or North Franklin Turnpike exit in Ramsey on the southbound side.

The DOT also anticipates nighttime lane closures on Route 17 during the construction period.

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