PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A new law in New Jersey updates testing and monitoring standards for road construction projects. According to the bill’s co-sponsor, it was inspired by the 2021 wall collapse of the big Direct Connect project in Camden County.
An investigation into the Wall 22 collapse in Bellmawr during the 295/42/76 Direct Connect project found engineers used outdated groundwater and geotechnical data in the building plans.
“They were using old data and then they decided to use a new technology of a wall,” said Assemblyman Bill Moen, who asserted what happened there should never happen anywhere else.
“And so the combination of those two, among other factors, like the rain we received in the days before that, really created this perfect storm, if you will.”
His legislation, which Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law last week, ensures more accurate information is collected.
“It requires the groundwater testing, the geotechnical testing data, is no older than five years,” Moen told KYW Newsradio.
In a statement, a New Jersey Department of Transportation spokesperson said, “NJDOT remains committed to ensuring the safety and integrity of our infrastructure through continuous evaluation and improvement of our standards and practices.” says this law heightens sensitivity to these issues and formalizes their stringent testing and monitoring protocols.
Reconstruction of the wall that collapsed is now about 85% complete. NJDOT said there will be several traffic pattern changes to monitor in the coming weeks as the work progresses.
“In a few weeks, we are scheduled to shift traffic coming off of Al-Jo’s curve heading to I-295 southbound slightly to the right onto a new ramp. A single lane on the left that basically follows the current alignment will carry traffic heading for Route 42 southbound/Atlantic City,” said a spokesperson.
Phase three of the project is scheduled for completion in 2028. Phase four is in final design.