Special Meeting On Future Of Patriots Way Bridge On Wednesday

OAKLAND, NJ — Oakland is having a special borough council meeting this Wednesday, at 7 p.m., on Zoom, to continue discussions about the future of the Patriots Way Bridge.

The reconstruction project was supposed to move forward this year, but progress stalled after a new cost estimate was shared. As of now, the borough is about $1.3 million short of funding.

"As of October 27, 2020, we were going forward. It was in our budget. We were all set. It was gonna be four point something [million dollars]," Mayor Linda Schwager said in the last meeting, April 28.

The demolition of the old bridge was scheduled to be done over Summer and completed by November of this year, she said, reading through emails.

The video recording of the meeting is available here.

"Our original estimate was not good," Borough Engineer John Yakimik said during the meeting. "The numbers that we tried to throw at that state, we tried to be very high and admittedly we weren't high enough."

He also said the increase in steel prices during the pandemic was a significant contributing factor for the new estimate.

Schwager said state authorities recently assured her that the bridge as it now stands was safe at least for the time being.

Wednesday's special meeting will have time for public comment. To attend, residents should register here.