Complex project to keep Woodward Road closed BY AMY ROSEN Staff Writer MANALAPAN - Do not make plans to drive on Woodward Road anytime soon. Motorists who use Woodward Road as a conduit to get to Route 33 from the intersection of Millhurst Road and Main Street in the township's Tennent section have had to find alternate routes several times over the past few months during intermittent road closings. Now, however, Woodward Road is closed and it will remain that way for most of 2008. According to township engineer Greg Valesi, infrastructure improvements currently under way by the developers of new residential communities that are being constructed on Woodward Road between Millhurst Road and Route 33 are slated to take 10 months (December 2007 to September 2008) to complete. Woodward Road will be closed to traffic the entire time. Plans for the projects that will reconstruct and widen existing bridges over the culverts (sewer or drain crossing under a road or embankment) along Woodward Road have been in place since the 1980s, according to Valesi. "Knob Hill (built by K. Hovnanian and American Properties) came on board first and did some limited improvements to hold it over until the time that Middlebrook Village, Eastbrook and Westbrook, which are now combined to (K. Hovnanian's) Four Seasons and Meadow Creek developments, were built," he said. "In order to move forward with this project there are two culverts in this phase of the work that need improvements," Valesi explained. "Woodward Road has to be widened and antiquated bridges which are too narrow for the amount of traffic that travels over them must be totally reconstructed." He saidMonmouth County is requiring that these structures be destroyed and rebuilt, thus necessitating the road's closure. Valesi said Woodward Road should be reopened before school starts in September. He said work began on one Woodward Road bridge this past summer and is almost complete. Another phase of the Woodward Road reconstruction will involve one more bridge to be expanded. The bridge is on the part of Woodward Road between Daum Road and Route 33. That project is expected to begin after the current project is completed. Valesi said municipal representatives and developers are exploring the possibility of implementing that project without having to completely close Woodward Road. He said all phases of the Woodward Road reconstruction project must be finalized by the end of 2008. The developers are required to make these road improvements by that time in order to meet their obligation to the township. Valesi said municipal officials have been doing whatever they can to tighten the time frame in order to cause as little impact to residents as possible. "The way it was originally planned, it would have ended up being a longer total duration for the job," he said. Valesi said Manalapan officials have been monitoring the progress of the work and said if there is any way they can push it to be done faster they will. He said the township, school districts, the police department and emergency services department of Manalapan were all notified in advance of the planned Woodward Road closure and were kept apprised as to when that would occur up until the time the road was closed. Residents who live on the road were given direct notification. Valesi said when the Woodward Road project is completed the road will be substantially improved and much safer at no cost to taxpayers. He said the developer is absorbing 100 percent of the cost to reconstruct and widen the road and to build new bridges. He said Monmouth County has its own plans for constructionwork that could cause delays on Millhurst Road, which should begin in early 2009. That is a separate project being handled by the county. Local traffic is permitted on Woodward Road on the Daum Road side between Route 33 and the Four Seasons development.