No firm project start date has yet been scheduled.
View full sizeNo firm project start date has yet been scheduled. The commission awarded a $24.4 million construction
to J.D. Eckman, Inc., of Atglen, Pa., and a $2.6 million contract for construction management and inspection services to Greenman-Pedersen Inc. of Lebanon.
Beginning in June, the $29.6 million project is expected to impose 15 months of single-lane travel restrictions in both directions during parts of 2013 and 2014. the commission has eyed early 2015 as the targeted completion date.
The commission expects detours will be needed in Easton as exit and entry ramps will also be repaired.
According to the commission, the project will include several tasks to rehabilitate the 75-year-old bridge such as deck repairs, blast cleaning, truss painting, installation of a drainage system, road repaving and other masonry work.
"This project is intended to enhance the structural integrity and appearance while improving safety and operational performance," executive director Joseph Resta said in a news release. "This capital investment will put this facility in its best overall condition in decades."
To better coincide with the Route 22 project, the commission's ongoing $17.5 million Interstate 78 repaving project in Williams Township near the New Jersey border will be limited to the overnight hours of 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and other off-peak daytime hours once construction begins.
At a meeting Monday morning in Solebury Township, commissioner Ed Smith, who also serves as a Warren County freeholder, said prior to the vote that he would "need to have some assurance" that traffic resulting from the two ongoing projects would be mitigated by alternating primary work hours.
The commission has not scheduled a firm start date for the Route 22 bridge project.