Route 206 bridge in Morris County reopens two days early

MOUNT OLIVE — The Route 206 closure over the Drakes Brook was completed on Sunday, and reopened to traffic early.

New Jersey 101.5 traffic anchor Bob Williams watched as the crews took down the detours and prepared to reopen the bridge on Sunday afternoon, nearly two days ahead of schedule.

"I know the farms and the businesses on Route 206 will be extremely happy," the administrator of the MT Olive Twp NJ Alerts Facebook page, Lou Thompson said. Many members who were skeptical about the detour, and whether or not the planned 10-day closure could be kept were pleasantly surprised at the early completion.

"It's open! They were literally opening it back up as I was coming back from Chester today. I thought the detour was very well-marked and easy-to-navigate however I didn't have to endure it during rush hour. Mostly traveling off times.But I thought it was well executed," Natalie Petraglia Interdonato wrote.

"It is very impressive and refreshing when a construction project finishes earlier than planned. It will be great for this area to have Route 206 back in service. Congratulations to Konkus Construction for a job well done," Williams said.

The project utilized accelerated bridge construction techniques to reduce the time it would take to replace the bridge and work went on 24 hours a day, seven days a week as conditions permitted.

The bridge had been closed since last Friday, July 6 by the New Jersey Department of Transportation between Four Bridges Road/Hillside Road and Bartley-Chester Road/Hillery Drive for what was expected to be a 10-day process to replace the bridge deck. The bridge's superstructure and approaches were also scheduled to be replaced.

Other members of the page were just as happy.

"A successful project! Done on time with minimal inconvenience. Considered it a pain in the butt at times, but could have been so much worse. Eight days of detour and we get a sounder structure, it's a win in my eyes," Dawn Michalski Stern said.

"So glad for the opening. I work at McDonald's on Route 206 and the detour definitely effected our business and not for the better. The good news was the advanced notification gave people in the area plenty of time to plan ahead so there were not huge traffic problems in town," Shannon Thompson said.

A message left for the Department of Transportation has not yet been returned.