Route 27 detour headache for drivers is starting Monday

Pandemic or no pandemic, the New Jersey Department of Transportation is pressing ahead with a multi-million dollar project that will disrupt travel on Route 27 in Somerset County for several months.

On Monday, beginning at 6 a.m. in preparation for the Ten Mile Run Tributary culvert replacement project, Route 27 will be shut down to traffic in both directions just south of County Route 518, known as the Georgetown-Franklin Turnpike, for 24 hours.

Steve Schapiro, a spokesman for the DOT, said starting on Tuesday morning at 6 a.m. the southbound lane of Route 27 in that area will be reopened, but the northbound lane will remain closed. Uf you are heading north you’ll be directed to turn right onto Promenade Boulevard and take that to Route 1 North, then go up to Finnegans Lane, where you'll turn left and back to Route 27.

On Tuesday, southbound traffic will be reopened using a temporary bridge over Ten Mile Run, and northbound traffic will continue to be detoured for several months, he said.

He said the northbound land closure will probably remain in effect until the end of the year, so crews can replace the Ten Mile Run Tributary culvert.

A culvert is a pipe that carries water underneath a roadway.

Schapiro said if a situation develops involving emergency vehicles “that need to head northbound, there will be flaggers on either end of the construction zone to stop traffic to allow those emergency vehicles to pass.”

He said the $3.37 million project is completely federally funded, and includes the replacement of the Carter’s Brook culvert, which has already been completed.

Schapiro said with less traffic volume on our roads because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the project will hopefully not be as disruptive as it normally might have been.

You can contact reporter David Matthau at David.Matthau@townsquaremedia.com