Mount Airy Road Reopens After Almost Three Months

Detour signs were finally removed, or covered with black plastic, as a stretch of Mount Airy Road that is a main route between Basking Ridge and Bernardsville was reopened on Thursday following a water main replacement project that began in mid-January.

Bernardsville Police said that the road officially opened following a final day of construction on Wednesday by the New Jersey American Water Co.

A spokesman for New Jersey American Water Co. had previously projected the replacement of decades-old water main pipes would be finished by the end of March.

But those detour signs are expected to be back within the year. The completion of the water company's project more expensive and extensive reconstruction of Mount Airy Road and its stone walls by Somerset County. 

The county's planned $5 million road reconstruction that will eventually include road resurfacing, and replacement of crumbling retaining walls and sidewalks in the area, Tricia Smith, principal highway engineer for Somerset County, said earlier.

She said on Thursday that the county expects to go out for bid for the larger project in the winter of 2013-14 and then begin the job soon afterward in 2014.

In March, Smith said the next step in the project is to seek easements from those who live along the wall for permission for construction vehicles to go on their properties.

Smith said that most of those requested easements would be temporary, lasting only for the duration of the project. But she said that some property owners will be asked for permanent easements in places where the walls will be moved back.

Smith said a public hearing to discuss that part of the project. She said that the hearing likely will be set for the beginning or end of the summer, but not in the middle, when many people may be on vacation.

Local officials already have warned that during the county's major reconstruction project, that stretch of Mount Airy Road may be closed for longer periods, with complete closures at some times, during the major reconstruction project.

The replacement of the decades-old water mains — which began on Jan. 14 — was considered necessary to do now since heavy construction is due when the county road is reconstructed and bowing stone walls replaced about a year from now, said Ken Taylor, construction supervisor for the water company.

"Construction over old mains can cause problems that were not there before," Taylor said this week.

In addition, the new mains — to serve about 40 customers directly as well as being a major pass-through point in the water company's infrastructure — will have a much larger capacity with 12-inch diameters, compared with the four-inch pipes being replaced, Taylor said.

The loop system serves about 10 streets directly in the area south of Olcott Square in Bernardsville, Taylor said.