DOT: Route 80, 287 roadwork will extend into 2015

Commuters coping with seemingly endless construction and treacherous lane shifts on Route 287 between Route 24 and the Littleton Road overpass in Parsippany will have to cope a while longer.

And various road projects on nearby Route 80 also will not be completed until at least 2015, according to the state Department of Transportation.

While the Route 287 northbound lanes have been cleared along this corridor, which has been undergoing extensive renovations since 2012, southbound drivers are now struggling with roadwork on the outer portion of the Eden Lane overpass, just north of the Route 24 interchange. The outer half of the bridge is closed as part of a four-phase replacement project, forcing drivers into four narrow, shifting lanes.

The good news?

The southbound outer-half Eden Lane project should be complete by fall. The northbound outer half of the overpass was completed earlier this year.

The bad news?

Once the outer halves are done, the Eden Lane project moves to the inside portions of the bridge, starting on the northern side, a phase that could take several months to complete, according to DOT spokesman Steven Schapiro.

Four lanes are expected to be open during all remaining phases of the Eden Lane project, Schapiro said Thursday.

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Schapiro also updated schedules for several nearby projects around the junction of routes 80 and 287. The long-delayed construction of a new entrance ramp from Littleton Road (Route 202) in Parsippany to Route 80 east, which began in late May, is "on schedule" and expected to be completed "sometime in the fall."

The new exit ramps from the local lanes of Route 80 West in Parsippany to Route 287 south and north, which includes an awkward lane shift to northbound 287, also is expected to be completed "this winter," according to Shapiro.

Those Route 80 hotspots are part of a $73 million project, which began in August 2012, to completely rebuild all lanes of Route 80 between the Route 202-Littleton Road interchange and the Beverwyck Road interchange, a very busy stretch of highway with an average of 159,000 vehicles traveling it daily.

Earlier this year, DOT said the project was on course to be completed by the end of 2014, but the latest updates push completion to at least 2015.

The Route 80 construction has overlapped with the large-scale resurfacing project of seven miles of Route 287 between the South Street underpass in Morristown and the Littleton Road overpass in Parsippany, which includes the current Eden Lane bridge rebuild. The $27.4 million Route 287 also had been scheduled to be completed by the end of 2014, but will now stretch into 2015.

The Route 287 project includes repair or replacement of seven bridges in addition to the Eden Lane overpass. DOT estimates about 100,000 vehicles travel the corridor daily.

The work is expected to extend the life span of the roadway by more than 15 years, and the bridge decks by 50 years.

Schapiro said bad weather over the winter and recent thunderstorms have caused some delays in the work.

Staff Writer William Westhoven: 973-428-6627; wwesthoven@dailyrecord.com.