Ongoing work for new Route 72 bridge continues during the new year

Photo by Jack Reynolds
Nearly half of the 16 hammerhead
piers have been completed.

Construction of the new Route 72 Manahawkin Bay Bridge is proceeding and on schedule, Stephen Schapiro, acting director of communications at the New Jersey Department of Transportation, recently told The SandPaper. About half of the 16 hammerhead piers to support the new bridge are finished, and the rest are in “various stages” of completion.

“Setting the beams on the piers is scheduled to begin before the end of the winter,” Schapiro said.

Electrical work as well as some work to level the bay bottom under the West Thorofare Bridge between Cedar Bonnet Island and Bonnet Island is also being executed, he added. Single lane closures, which are allowed during the off-season as well as overnight, are being utilized when necessary.

— Kelley Anne Essinger


This article was published in The SandPaper.