NJDOT Route 295/195 Interchange

On August 20, 1991, George Harms Construction Co., Inc. was the low responsive bidder on the second largest construction project ever bid by the NJDOT to construct the Rt. 295 and Rt. 195 Interchange in Trenton, NJ. This project was an environmentally sensitive project constructed entirely in the wetland area adjacent to the Delaware River.

The project linked the previously completed sections of I-295, I-195 and New Jersey Rt. 29. To comply with mitigation measures contained in the environmental impact statement, much of the project was constructed with limited access and from temporary structures and platforms. The project involved the construction of over one and a half million cubic yards of embankment. Much of the embankment construction involved surcharging and preloading. 750,000 cubic yards of wet excavation was performed and backfilled to accommodate the embankment construction.

Construction of this project involved one mile of wetlands bridges. The bridgework was divided between conventional pile supported piers and abutments in the upland areas and pier caps atop 36″ prestressed concrete cylinder piles in the tidal wetland areas. Due to the wetland conditions, most of the conventional pier construction was performed utilizing sheeted cofferdams. The bridge decks are concrete, supported by continuous structural steel beams and prestressed concrete beams. The job involved a total of over 8 million pounds of continuous structural steel beams and over 35,000 lf of prestressed concrete beams. Poured-in-place concrete for this project totaled 35,000 cy and contained nearly 7 million pounds of reinforcing steel. This project required a massive planning and staging effort. The project was completed on time, within budget and received several industry awards for construction and design.