By Donald Gilpin

As of 8 p.m. on Wednesday, July 26, Washington Road is closed between Faculty Road and Tiger Lane as the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) replaces the bridge over the D&R Canal. Tiger Lane is one of the new roads into the expanded Princeton University Lake Campus on the West Windsor side of Lake Carnegie.

Work is expected to be completed by October. In the meantime motorists will be detoured onto Harrison Street or Alexander Road. Local access will be maintained between Route 1 and Tiger Lane.

NJDOT Press Manager Steve Schapiro emphasized the importance of the road and the urgency of the bridge replacement. He wrote in a July 24 email, “The Washington Road bridge over the D&R Canal was scheduled to be replaced within the next several years as part of NJDOT’s regular bridge maintenance program. However a three-day emergency closure was required last July to make repairs to the timber piles underneath the bridge and install temporary jacks to provide supplemental support.”

He continued, “NJDOT has inspected the bridge monthly since last July to monitor its condition. Due to the emergent nature of those repairs, the decision was made to accelerate the project as a high priority bridge replacement.”

Princeton Mayor Mark Freda welcomed the NJDOT’s timely attention to this project. “I was on a recent call with all the stakeholders involved in this project, and the DOT was very clear that this project needed to be run well and run on time,” he said. “It will be an inconvenience, traffic-wise. But safety is important, so it is good to see the DOT take on this project prior to a failure of the bridge.”

Princeton Municipal Engineer and Deputy Administrator Deanna Stockton added that the NJDOT “worked closely with Mercer County, West Windsor, Princeton, and Princeton University to successfully incorporate our concerns.”

Pointing out that Washington Road is a major entry point into both Princeton University and the town, Schapiro noted the University’s ongoing project to expand its facilities alongside Washington Road, and he added, “It is important to complete the bridge project quickly to maintain the roadway into Princeton and minimize the disruption to University activities.”

The NJDOT advises motorists to plan extra time when traveling in the area.  There will be variable message signs (VMS) directing motorists to the detour routes. 

Whether there will be extensive delays — during rush hours or when the new school year begins and visitors come to town for football games and other special events — remains to be seen. 

Schapiro noted that multiple detour routes should help minimize delays. NJDOT urges motorists to check their traffic information website at 511nj.org for construction updates and real-time travel information. 

511nj.org has cameras set up throughout the state, including one at Route 1 and Harrison Street and another at Route 1 and Alexander Road, where viewers can observe the flow of traffic and plan accordingly. NJDOT news is also available on Twitter @NewJerseyDOT and on the NJDOT Facebook page.

The last time a major artery from Route 1 into Princeton was closed for a prolonged period was in 2019, when the NJDOT teamed up with Mercer County to replace three bridges on Alexander Street/Alexander Road. The closure lasted from November 6, 2019 to May 15, 2020. 

There were long lines of traffic and significant travel delays, especially on Washington Road and Harrison Street, from November until March, when, with the onset of COVID-19, there were stay-at-home orders, transitions to remote work, and suddenly very few cars on the road.

Traffic has apparently not fully returned to pre-pandemic levels, but on Thursday morning commuters into Princeton will find out more about the impact of the Washington Road closure.