About The Project

Location: Bernards and Long Hill Townships

About the Bridge:

The existing Valley Road Bridge over the Passaic River is a three-span concrete encased steel multi-stringer bridge built in 1931with an approximate total span length of 100 feet. The bridge carries two 13.5′ lanes, one 2′ wide westbound shoulder, one 4′ wide eastbound shoulder and two 5.5′ wide sidewalks.

Description of the Preliminary Preferred Alternative:

The Preliminary Preferred Alternative consists of a full replacement of the existing Valley Road Bridge with a single span steel stringer bridge on concrete abutments. Valley Road will be realigned to the north at the bridge by approximately 10 feet to accommodate construction staging and maintain traffic during construction. Due to the proposed bridge construction, River Road east of the bridge will also be realigned and a new intersection at River Road and Valley Road will be constructed. The proposed bridge will accommodate two 12’ lanes, two 8’-4” shoulders, and two 6’ wide sidewalks.

Local Preliminary Engineering (LPE) is the second phase of work for the Local Capital Project Delivery Program. The LPE Phase involves performing engineering tasks and technical environmental studies in order to obtain formal community consensus. The approval of the environmental document (NEPA document) from FHWA also takes place in this phase. The following activities will be completed during LPE: community involvement, agency consultation, environmental documentation, preparation of design level mapping, preliminary design services, and refinement of the PPA. A public information session will be conducted to obtain the formal community consensus. At the close of LPE, Bernards Township and Long Hill Township officials will be asked to provide a Resolution of Support endorsing the project.

The tasks conducted during this phase will consist of, among other things:

• Development of design level base plans
• Development of roadway and bridge geometric design to clarify environmental impacts and right-of-way impacts
• Utility discovery and verification
• Geotechnical studies (soil borings and analysis) for foundation design
• Preliminary drainage design
• Driveway access impact evaluation
• Development of right-of-way and construction cost estimates

Federally-funded projects require an environmental screening that follows the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process. The NEPA process enables the project sponsor to establish existing socioeconomic and environmental conditions in the project area and weigh the potential impacts that may be caused by the Preliminary Preferred Alternative (PPA). When analyzing the PPA, federal and state regulations require careful assessment and mitigation or avoidance of the potential negative environmental impacts. Environmental studies for air, noise, hazardous or contaminated sites, parks, wetlands, water resources, social and economic impacts, and cultural resources such as historic structures and facilities will be completed and summarized in the Environmental Document. For this project, the Environmental Document will be a Categorical Exclusion Document (CED).  The results of the studies will be summarized in the CED and submitted to NJDOT and FHWA for approval.

The project has advanced to the second stage of the Local Project Delivery Process and is now in Local Preliminary Engineering. The project team will continue to work with the Local Officials, Project Stakeholders, and the community to reconfirm support for the project, solicit input to inform on concerns or updates on local conditions, and share information with the project’s stakeholders as the design develops.

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