State Plans to Expand Route 18 in New Brunswick

By Feroze Dhanoa

The Department of Transportation will be holding an informational meeting today at 4 p.m. to talk about a construction project along Route 18.

According to the DOT, the project involves adding a lane North of Weston Mills Pond going toward the ramp of Route 1 to provide three lanes for traffic travelling on Route 18.

By adding the additional lane, the DOT aims to ease the merge between northbound traffic coming off the N.J. Turnpike with traffic that is already travelling North on Route 18 or is travelling to Route 1 North.

The construction project is likely to begin on August 15 and will take two years to complete costing $26 million dollars. The project will also replace the bridge over Route 1 that carries all lanes of Route 18.

The DOT expects that work will take place during off-peak hours however there will be detours in the area that is labelled as one of the worst bottlenecks in Middlesex County.

The project will begin while the N.J. Turnpike Authority is continuing work along Route 18.

The meeting will take place at the New Brunswick City Hall.

Photo Credit: Tim Farrell for The Star Ledger.