Route 35 (Photo: Daniel Nee)
Contractors working on the reconstruction of Route 35 will begin a push toward the highway’s final paving Sept. 8, officials said.
Work will resume Sept. 8 – the day after Labor Day – on the highway, according to Mayor John Ducey. Though the majority of the word is complete, the road needs a final paving before the contractor can close the project out in the Brick portion, which also includes Toms River and Lavallette.
According to Ducey, one lane of traffic will be maintained on the southbound lanes of the highway, where the work is occurring first. After a few days of setup, paving will begin Sept. 13, Ducey said. After the paving is completed, work on various intersections will be completed, a concern of many residents who live near the highway and have said potholes and gaps are making vehicles take a beating.
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“Once [the paving] is complete, the contractor plans to take two weeks to finish all the cleaning at all the intersections, then move to northbound,” said Ducey.
Much of the paving work will run from midnight to 6 a.m. Variable message signs will be used to notify motorists of all traffic pattern changes, the state Department of Transportation said. The timetable on when the work will be completed is weather-dependent, transportation officials said.
Work will also restart in Lavallette in much of the borough’s business district. The work between Brown Avenue and Bond Avenue will be completed between September and the late fall. Earlier this summer, Lavallette Mayor Walter LaCicero said the work is on track to be completed before Thanksgiving, a milestone important to the borough’s business owners who need shoppers to be able to access the road during the holiday shopping season.
In addition to the work in Brick and Lavallette, final paving will be completed throughout Toms River’s northern beaches, in Normandy Beach and the Ocean Beach neighborhoods. Paving is already completed in Toms River’s Ortley Beach section, which was included in a separate contract from the northern beaches.
