Dewberry provided engineering and design services for the $210-million Route 3 over the Passaic River project. This included the reconstruction and widening of the Route 3 corridor in northern New Jersey, as part of four construction contracts. The final contract involved replacing, raising, and lengthening the Ridge Road and Orient Way bridges, which carry local traffic over Route 3 and completed the widening of the 2.5-mile corridor. Route 3 was built as an east-west connector to the Lincoln Tunnel in 1949, with interchanges to several major New Jersey highways, and now carries 150,000 vehicles per day. In the 1950s, the right shoulder was converted to a third lane. Accident reports show a reduction in the number and severity of accidents and showcase the operational success of the collector-distributor roadways and improved acceleration and deceleration lanes to reduce weaving and improve safety. The historical feature of the project was the replacement and widening of the dysfunctional movable bridge over the Passaic River with three new fixed bridges.

“This project was challenging for a number of reasons, including complex staging and traffic control and the design of seven bridges, 20 retaining walls, and two miles of noise walls using innovative technologies,” says Dewberry Associate Vice President and Department Manager John Coffey, PE. “In the end, it provided much needed safety and traffic improvements and our team was grateful to be a part of it and to be receiving this award.”