Mount Airy Road Work Just Start of Bigger Project in 2014

A spokesman for New Jersey American Water Co. gave the end of March as the latest date for final completion of a project to replace water mains on a stretch between Basking Ridge and Bernardsville — but this project is just a preview of a larger and lengthier job now projected for 2014.

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 project was expected to take about two and a half months and even with some breaks for bad weather, including a few days off this week, the water company should meet the target date of the end of March, he said.

The water service is being switched from the old mains into the new water mains, and then the old connections will be killed, Taylor said.

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

Road has been open part-time

While the road has Taylor said that involved towns and the water company have tried to keep the barricades consistently in place when any work is underway.

"We are trying not to confuse people while we are working," he said, adding that safety is a main issue. The roads have consistently been open to school buses and those who live on streets off Mount Airy where the work is being done.

Taylor said that Bernardsville police and also Bernards Township police, on the periphery of the project, have been very helpful and cooperative.

In a way, Taylor said the easier closures for this project — with detours already worked out — are a sort of practice run for the more extensive project to be taken later by the county.

The official detour for cars has been via Pill Hill Road, connecting with Meeker Road and then heading north to the center of Bernardsville.

Trucks are being detoured on a longer route along Whitenack Road, which connects at an intersection with Route 202 further south of Bernardsville, to avoid a narrow bridge on Meeker Road, which also has a steep incline.

The replacement of water mains are the first phase of a larger $5 million road project 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 in January.

County construction now planned for winter 2014

This week, 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 in order to complete the job.

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 the next step is to hold 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.

She said that the larger construction project now is expected to begin in winter 2014. Officials already have warned that the road may be closed for longer periods, with complete closures at some times, during the major reconstruction project.