Rebuilt RTE. 80 Months Away Interim Bridge Due at Midweek.
Adam Lisberg, Staff Writer

06/24/2001
The Record, Bergen County, NJ
All Editions: Sunday
A01
(Copyright 2001 North Jersey Media Group Inc.)

If you're planning to head west across North Jersey this summer, get used to looking at other people's bumpers.

A fire-scarred bridge on westbound Route 80 in Denville must be completely rebuilt and will be out of service for months. Meanwhile, construction crews are erecting a temporary bridge that state officials hope will be open Wednesday.

But the two-lane, temporary bridge, where the speed limit will be 40 mph,
will create huge delays while contractors tear down and replace the weakened four-lane span.

One day after three trucks collided in a crash that sent flaming fuel across the highway, weekend travelers faced two-hour delays trying to get around the bridge Saturday, as one of the country's busiest roads became one of New Jersey's worst traffic nightmares.

Cars were squeezing onto alternative routes and creeping along at single-digit speeds a situation that is sure to be worse when commuters return to work.

"It's raining, and it's Saturday," said state Trooper Mark Mangan. "Monday will be the real test." Don't look for relief o! n the rails, either: In a long-planned construction project, NJ Transit has shut two of the four tracks leading into the Hoboken station, forcing a change in train schedules and leading to full parking lots at stations.

"We don't have capacity at this point to add any more trains," said NJ
Transit spokesman Michael Klufas, who advised travelers to check the
agency's Web site at www.njtransit.org for details. "We certainly welcome customers to NJ Transit, but if you can, please arrange to be dropped off. Parking may not be available.

"In the meantime, there was nothing for westbound drivers to do Saturday but sit and stew. Joe Banek and his wife, Lorraine, headed from their Long Island home to visit relatives in Warren County, only to find themselves stopped cold on Route 46.

"I've never seen a detour this bad before," Banek said. "We must have been sitting on this road for at least an hour. You just turn on the radio and sit there." Eastbound traffic on Route 80 appeared to moving well for most of the day, until a minivan crashed and overturned in Parsippany at 1:41 p.m. Three teenagers were taken to hospitals for treatment, but no serious injuries were reported, said state police Sgt. Peter Brown.

The Route 80 havoc started early Friday when a gasoline tanker collided with two other trucks and exploded in flames.

Two truck drivers, James Laboo and Leo T. Willette, remained hospitalized Saturday after being admitted in critical condition, hospital officials said. The driver of the third truck, Walter Gardner Jr., was treated and released Friday.

The searing heat weakened the concrete and steel span over Den Brook,
causing structural damage so severe that the New Jersey Department of
Transportation is planning to build it anew.

"The whole bridge will have to be replaced," said DOT spokesman Jim Berzok, who could not estimate how long it would take or how many mill! ions of dollars it would cost. "We're not going to spare any expense. We're not going to worry about pennies here.

"Acrow Corporation of America, in Carlstadt, began making preparations Friday afternoon to install a temporary bridge 90 feet long and two lanes wide to handle some of the Route 80 traffic. Acrow, which installs temporary bridges all over the world, began unloading steel pieces Saturday.

"It's like a big Erector set. The whole thing pins and bolts together," said Bill Killeen, president of Acrow. "We're putting it on top of, but it will not touch, the existing bridge.

"The temporary bridge can bear the full weight of normal bridge traffic, but it will offer limited relief to the estimated 60,000 to 65,000 vehicles a day that travel west on Route 80 there.

"There's just no way around the congestion until we get the temporary bridge," Berzok said. "And even then, you're going from four lanes to two,
and from 55 mph to 40. " The delays will be felt especially hard by the
trucking industry, where time is money.

"It's going to be a little rough out there for a while," said Charlie Sylvestri, a manager for Trans Continental Trucking in South Hackensack, which sends three or four trucks to Pennsylvania each day. "Instead of being out for 10 hours, our guys will be out for 12." Saturday, police diverted a sluggish stream of cars and trucks off westbound Route 80 at Exit 42-C in Parsippany, sending traffic down Route 46 until it could rejoin the interstate at Exit 38 in Denville.

The DOT recommends that drivers heading west out of state take Route 78, and that in-state drivers consider taking Route 10 rather than Route 46. State police will have extra troopers to direct traffic on alternate routes for the next few days.

Staff Writer Michelle Han contributed to this article. Staff Writer Adam
Lisberg's e-mail address is lisberg@northjersey.com 

TIPS FOR DRIVERS
Route 80 westbound will be closed in Denville until at least Wednesday, and traffic will be affected for months while workers rebuild a damaged bridge.