Will drivers get relief from the tire eating potholes on sections of Route 78 that spanned the highway from Somerset County to Newark?
Last week brought a flurry of complaints about potholes on the highway between Exits 41 in Warren and Exit 45 in Berkley Heights, including from one exasperated reader who said he’s reported potholes to the DOT, but no repairs were made.
“I filled out the state’s online website numerous times with no result,” he wrote in an email. “I’m all out of ideas on how to get the potholes repaired on Route 78 east between exits 41 to 45.”
Department of Transportation workers fill in a pothole on Interstate 78 westbound in Bridgewater in 2014. (NJ.com file photo)
Another reader complained about potholes on Route 78 east near Exit 41 and on the express lanes near the Garden State Parkway, which he said left several vehicles with flat tires on the morning of Jan. 25. A reader said he saw least a dozen vehicles with flat tires “and counting” on the morning of Jan. 25.
Others complained about potholes in the far left lanes of the highway around Exit 55 in Newark, which they said left several vehicles disabled on Jan. 25.
One reader reported a “massive hole” on the express lanes of Route 78 west near Exit 55 outside Newark which left him and 10 other vehicles with damage that required help from tow trucks.
“I had both left side tires blown… so did the four vehicles around me and the several others that followed,” he wrote.
Q: What is being done to address potholes in that area and has the DOT responded to drivers complaints?
A: The answer is yes, with a complicated explanation that goes back to 2016 and extends into next spring.
In June 2016, NJDOT repaired potholes and cracks in the “skip lines,” the white lines separating lanes, which was the most damaged portion of a one-mile section of Route 78 east in Berkley Heights, said Stephen Schapiro, a DOT spokesman. Route 78 west also was resurfaced last fall from Watchung to Springfield, near the Millburn border, he said.
This year, state highways had a bad winter for potholes, which led the DOT to start its annual pothole repair campaign last Friday, earlier than usual, he said. That’s because of an unusual weather pattern of frequent rain and a freeze/thaw cycle this winter that creates potholes, Schapiro said.
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“Crews repaired potholes on Route 78 in both directions last weekend using four pothole filling machines between mileposts 42 in Watchung and the New Jersey Turnpike tolls (in Newark),” he said.
DOT officials also expanded a paving project that started on Jan. 26 to repair more sections of Route 78 westbound between Bedminster and Watchung, Schapiro said.
That paving, which was only supposed to cover sections of the highway in Somerset County was expanded to included repairs to Route 78 east near the Route 287 interchange in Bedminster through milepost 48 in Springfield. The work is being done overnight from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. this week and next week, Schapiro said.
Next spring, a curb to curb repaving project is planned for Route 78 east from approximately milepost 43 in Berkley Heights to milepost 49 in Springfield. Paving also will be done on the Route 78 east express lanes from approximately Springfield to Union Township, and on Route 78 west between Union and Route 124, he said.
If some of these locations sound familiar, it’s because Route 78 east from Drift Road in Watchung to Stuyvesant Avenue in Union, was also the site of a repaving project that seemed to take the longest time ever. That routine work was the subject of four reader questions between Sept. 2015 and last June, when the project was sidelined due to the Transportation Trust Fund shut down.
Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @commutinglarry. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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