Bypass Work to Shift Traffic on Amwell Road

For the next six months, a section of Amwell Road between Steinmetz Road and Clerico Lane will have lanes shifted to the north because of construction work on the Route 206 bypass, according to the State Department of Transportation (DOT).

"Eventually, it'll (the bypass) mean the viability of a downtown center," Hillsborough Mayor Gloria McCauley said.  "We have builders who update the corner of Amwell and 206 and there are businesses there that are interested already.  But I think people need to see things visually to generate more interest."

Though the lanes on Amwell Road will move north, the traffic pattern, maintains one lane travel lane in each direction.  The road currently has one lane of traffic in either direction, so the shift eliminates the shoulder from Amwell Road East and the second lane that ends after the ShopRite exit.

Work on the road began Friday, with the realignment of the 1.1-mile section of Amwell Road. During the night, Carbro Inc., the project contractor, established an alternating traffic pattern on the section of road in order to set up the new work zone.

In addition, a portion of Hillsborough Road between Route 206 and Willow Road will be closed around April 26.  to replace the bridge over the CSX railroad tracks,  and portions of the road will be rebuilt to accommodate the bypass during that construction phase, the DOT said.

Drivers will need to take Route 206, Amwell Road and Willow Road to avoid the closed section of Hillsborough Road.

The road will remain closed until early October.

Once completed, the bypass will shift through traffic off the existing Route 206, onto a 3.6-mile section of road between Mountain View Road and Old Somerville Road.  The $43 million project, which had been discussed and delayed for several years, began in August 2010, with the portion of the bypass that is between Hillsborough Road and Amwell Road.

According to the DOT, 20 percent of the total project work has been completed, which includes clearing existing brush, stripping topsoil, excavation work and installing anti-erosion fences.  About 50 percent of the excavation and drainage work has been completed, while the substructure work for the bypass bridge over Royce Brook and over Homestead Road, and the Amwell Road bridge over the bypass are ongoing.