Essex County Begins Road Project Near South Mountain Reservation – Maplewood, NJ Patch

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Work has begun to replace the 60-year-old Marion Avenue culvert, which allows a tributary of the Rahway River to flow under a residential road near the South Mountain Reservation, Essex County officials said Monday.

The project “should take about two months to complete depending on weather,” said a county spokesperson on Monday. “It’s a residential area, so the detour will not be too dramatic.”

The area on Marion Avenue is near Glen Avenue in Millburn, near the South Mountain Reservation.

A culvert is a small tunnel under a road to let water through. See the types of culverts here, including older stone models.

This project also includes the replacement of three other culverts: the Freeman Street Culvert over
Foulerton’s Brook in Roseland, the Mitchell Street Culvert over the East Branch of the Rahway River in Orange, and the Locust Street Culvert over Lloyd Brook in Bloomfield.

A recent inspection report concluded the culvert, originally constructed in 1962, needed to be replaced because its condition was deteriorating, the county said.

The 27-foot-wide culvert carries two lanes of traffic, one in each direction.

The new structure will be a three-sided culvert designed like the old one.

French and Parrello was awarded a professional services contract to design the improvements to the four culverts and provide construction inspection services on the project. A publicly bid contract for $2,878,204 was awarded to Grade Construction from Paterson to replace the four culverts.

The culvert improvements were funded with a grant from the NJ Department of Transportation Local Aid Program.

The project is part of the county executive’s ongoing initiative to modernize infrastructure and enhance safety for pedestrians and motorists, the county said.

“Our communities depend on county roads and bridges to get to work, go to school and go about their daily routines,” said County Executive DiVincenzo. “We are aggressively improving and modernizing our infrastructure to make traveling through Essex County as safe and easy
as possible.”

“This investment to modernize the culvert will be an asset to the residents,” Commissioner
Patricia Sebold said.