PHILLIPSBURG, NJ –I-78 westbound motorists could encounter severe traffic backups and travel delays this weekend approaching the Phillipsburg/Routes 22 & 173 interchange (Exit 3), the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission warned today.
An uninterrupted 57-hour-long closure of two westbound travel lanes (only one of three lanes open) is scheduled to begin 10 p.m. Friday, June 8, and continue until as late as 7 a.m. Monday, June 11.
Rainy weather resulted in postponements of this work detail on previous weekends in May and June. A final decision on implementation of the lane closures for this weekend will be made on Friday (tomorrow).
If a single-lane travel pattern is implemented on I-78 westbound, motorists should anticipate the most severe traffic congestion occurring between the hours of 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Backups in excess of a mile and travel delays of an hour or more are likely.
The around-the-clock weekend travel restriction is needed so work crews can replace deteriorating roadway slabs at the approach bridges that carry I-78 westbound west across Route 519 and the on-ramp to I-78 east from Routes 22 and 173. More information on the I-78 Bridges and Approach Slabs Rehabilitation Project is at http://www.drjtbc.org/project/I-78.
