7-Week Long Water Main Replacement Project To Close North Bridge Street In Bridgewater

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — Beginning on Monday, New Jersey American Water(NJAW) will start a water-main replacement project, which will take about seven weeks to complete on North Bridge Street in Bridgewater.

"Over the last 10 or so years, we’ve had a lot of water main breaks on North Bridge Street. The pipe was originally was installed in the 1970s... That's pushing 60 years old," said Christopher Lynch with NJAW at the Thursday Township Council meeting.

Lynch noted the water main can no longer handle the demand and NJAW has decided to replace 4,300 feet of the 12-inch ductile iron main from Prince Rodgers Avenue all the way to Foothill Road, "where the majority of our breaks have been."

This will also include installing new fire hydrants, new 1-inch line water services to each home, and a final paving of the entire road, curb to curb.

This project will allow NJAW to replace critical water-main infrastructure on North Bridge Street. This project is exclusively New Jersey American Water’s project, and is not funded, planned, executed, or supervised by Bridgewater Township.

"I know Bridgewater did not have the greatest experience with PSE&G from what I’ve heard," said Lynch who said NJAW has worked with Township Police to come up with detours and an alert system.

Work is scheduled to be conducted Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

"We scheduled this for the summer to avoid the school bus traffic and school traffic that takes one thing out of the equation," said Lynch. "We landed on a good detour plan while the work is taking place. "

The Township shared an email with residents on Thursday night with the information necessary to help minimize disruptions to daily routines:

1. The steps of the project itself  
2. The geographic limits of the project and the associated detour  
3. Additional information about what to expect during the project
4. The timeline of the project  

1) Steps

This project will generally follow this series of steps:

• Staging of Materials: Pipes, valves, and construction equipment may be temporarily stored within the work zone. 
• Saw-Cutting and Milling: Sections of the road may be saw-cut or milled to prepare for excavation and pipe installation. 
• Excavation and Trenching: Crews will dig trenches in the roadway to remove the old water main and install the new pipe. 
• Water Main Installation: New water main pipe will be laid in the trench and connected to the existing system. 
• Service Connections: Individual properties will be reconnected to the new water main, which may involve short-term water service interruptions (residents will be notified in advance). 
• Curb-to-Curb Milling and Final Paving: Once all underground work is complete, the entire roadway will be milled and resurfaced curb-to-curb. 

2) Roads and Detour

The project detour will only take place between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

The detour will require the closure of North Bridge Street from Vogt/Prince Rodgers to Foothill Road.

The detour will be as follows:

If a driver is heading north on North Bridge, the driver will detour onto Vogt Drive to Somerville Road, to Foothill Road, looping back to the intersection of Foothill Road and North Bridge Street. If a driver is heading south, the detour will be reversed – from Foothill Road to Somerville Road to Vogt Drive, allowing the driver to return to North Bridge Street at the Vogt Drive intersection.

Though residents and emergency services will have access, North Bridge Street between Vogt/Prince Rodgers and Foothill will not be useable as a thoroughfare until the process is completed.

3) Additional Information

• At this time, no detour roads are scheduled to experience closures for the duration of the project. If that occurs because of an emergency, Bridgewatwer will notify the public as quickly as possible.  
• Residents may lose access to their streets or driveways for brief periods (lasting no more than a few hours) during this project.  
• NJAW contractors have been specifically instructed to notify residents about this possibility not less than 24 hours before it may occur, and accommodate residents wherever possible.   
• The Bridgewater Police Traffic Safety Unit, the Engineering Division, DPW, OCR and the Administration have all closely coordinated to ensure this project is completed with minimum disruption to our community.  
• Some residents may experience water services outages due to this project. NJAW is responsible for notifying residents of such outages should they occur.   

4) Timeline

The overall timeline for this project is approximately 7 weeks. New Jersey American Water has committed to having the entirety of the project completed before the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year.

5) Feedback

Residents can reach the NJAW Project Inspector directly:
Mr. Frank Price
NJAW Senior Construction Inspector
908-482-6029 / frankin.price@amwater.com

Residents can also reach the construction contractor supervisor:
Mr. Derek Clarke
CRJ Construction
908-655-8746 / Dclarke@crjcontracting.com

For questions, comments, or concerns with regard to Bridgewater Township, contact the Office of Constituent Relations at 908-725-6300 ext. 5888 or ocr@bridgewaternj.gov.

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