Temporary Closure
of Route 70 Bridge over Friendship Creek
(Trenton)
Route 70 over the Friendship Creek will be closed overnight on
Tuesday, August 17 in order to do construction work on the permanent
bridge over the Friendship Creek. Route 70 will be closed
at 9:00 PM on Tuesday August 17 and will reopen at approximately
6:00 AM on Wednesday August 18. During this closure, the
following detours will be in place:
From Route
70 East, towards Shore Points
Follow Route
206 South, to County Route 532 East, to County Route 563 North,
to Route 72 West, which brings motorists back to Four Mile Circle
(Route 70).
From Route
70 West, towards Philadelphia
From Four
Mile Circle, follow posted detour and turn Right onto Magnolia
Road, to County Route 530 West, to Route 206. Motorists
can use Route 38 West for Philadelphia or Route 206 South for
Route 70.
The Route
70 Bridge, which carried the highway over the Friendship Creek
near Holly Boulevard in Southampton Township, Burlington County,
collapsed on July 13 due to severe flooding in the area following
a major rainstorm. New Jersey Department of Transportation
(NJDOT) Commissioner Jack Lettiere immediately closed Route 70
in Southampton and announced that a detour had been set up to
divert traffic around the collapsed bridge. In addition,
Governor James E. McGreevey declared a State of Emergency in Burlington
and Camden Counties in response to widespread flooding.
NJDOT constructed
a temporary bridge and reopened Route 70 to traffic on July 19,
several days ahead of schedule. The bridge, owned by the
NJDOT, provides for one lane of eastbound and westbound traffic,
which was the existing condition on Route 70, and its completion
allowed the highway to be reopened to traffic within days of the
original bridge's collapse.
Construction of a permanent replacement for the
original bridge is currently underway, and should be complete
later this year. The temporary bridge, offset by a few
feet to the south of the original structure, will remain in place
until the permanent structure can carry one lane of traffic in
each direction.
