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Projects recognized for Operational Excellence and Safety

(Trenton) – The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) today announced that two NJDOT projects – the Route 3, Route 46, Valley Road & Notch/Rifle Camp Road Interchanges and the I-76/I-676, Bridges and Pavement, Contract 1 – have been named regional winners in the 2024 America’s Transportation Awards Competition.

The awards sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), AAA, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, are a competition in which state DOTs compete in four categories: Quality of Life/Community Development; Operations Excellence; Best Use of Technology & Innovation; and for the first time, Safety. Each category is designated by project budget size: small (up to $10 million), medium ($10 million to $100 million), and large ($100 million or more).

The I-76/I-676, Bridges and Pavement, Contract 1 project received honors in the Operations Excellence, Medium project category and the Route 3, Route 46, Valley Road & Notch/Rifle Camp Road Interchanges received honors in the Safety, Large project category. This year’s winners were chosen from a selection of 22 projects nominated by seven states in the Northeast Association of State Transportation Officials (NASTO) region.

“These awards are an example of Governor Phil Murphy’s commitment to a safe, reliable, and equitable transportation system for all New Jerseyans and demonstrate how the New Jersey Department of Transportation continues to be a national leader in delivering projects that improve the quality of life for our residents and travelers in our State,” NJDOT Commissioner Fran O’Connor said. “We should all be proud of the outstanding efforts of NJDOT’s employees and our contractors for the work they do every day to make our roads and bridges safe.”

I-76/I-676, Bridges and Pavement, Contract 1 project

The I-76 corridor, one of the nation’s busiest highways, is essential to the economies of southeastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. The I-76 Bridge over Klemm Avenue, Conrail, and the South Branch of Newton Creek in Gloucester City accommodates 11 lanes and handles over 180,000 vehicles daily. The bridge replacement was done in stages using Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) methods using prefabricated materials to minimize the impact to traffic and reduce construction time. This $57 million project permanently fixed the dilapidated bridge; a structure recently subjected to several emergency repairs in order to maintain connectivity between New Jersey and Philadelphia via the Walt Whitman and Ben Franklin Bridges. The bridge now provides safer and more efficient infrastructure for daily commuters, heavy truck traffic, and recreational access along the Delaware River.

Route 3, Route 46, Valley Road & Notch/Rifle Camp Road Interchanges project

Serving 150,000 vehicles daily, these interchanges in Passaic County posed daily challenges due to the impact of missing connections, substandard roadway design elements, aging bridges, and unsafe traffic patterns. Those critical yet outdated links between New Jersey and New York City – last updated in the 1940s and 1950s – caused traffic congestion, crashes, and transit issues. This $253 million redesign included modern traffic engineering, safety enhancements, and improved access to NJ Transit’s Montclair State University Train Station, creating a safer transportation hub.

The two NJDOT projects are among eight award winning projects selected from 22 nominations from state DOTs in the Northeastern Association of State Transportation Officials (NASTO) region, which includes New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Quebec, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Following the NASTO regional competition, the “Top 12” nationwide finalists will be announced in early September, featuring the three highest-scoring projects from each region. Those top contenders will then compete for the two 2024 America’s Transportation Awards national prizes.

The Grand Prize will be selected by an independent panel of judges, while the People’s Choice Award will go to the project with the most online votes from the public, weighted by state population. AASHTO will announce the winners at its annual meeting in October 2024 in Philadelphia. Both winners will receive $10,000 each for a charity or transportation-related scholarship of their choosing.

For more information follow NJDOT news on x (Twitter) @NJDOT_info or on the NJDOT Facebook page.